TROOPSTER PROGRAM

The American Legion Post 175

Troopster Program

Members of our Post participate in the "Troopster" program, which prepares 'care packs' for delivery to our deployed Armed Forces. We do this in conjunction / cooperation with the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 9808 in Mechanicsville.

Mission

Troopster is a non-profit, cause-driven organization, founded in 2015 by a U.S. veteran to support the Armed Forces community, deployed service members, military spouses and families with a resource to send/receive personalized and unique care packages.

Vision

The Troopster Vision is to be the household name of military deployment kits for the 1.3 M U.S. service members and their families – Beginning with a goal to send 20,000 packages in 2022 to soldiers deployed around the world.

Values

- Innovation

We embrace progress, encourage opinions, creativity, and ideas for continuous improvement.

- Communication

We strive for cohesiveness through transparent and deliberate communication.

- Dedication

We reflect the standards of responsibility to improve our own strengths and effectiveness.

Troopster was founded, Thanksgiving Day in 2015, by U.S. Navy Petty Officer Chelsea Mandello while she was still serving active-duty as a Navy Photojournalist.

The Troopster site was created to give friends and family of deployed service members a way to easily send their soldiers care packages, without facing any of the trouble of shopping or packing themselves.

The story began nearly two years before, while Chelsea was serving aboard her seventh ship during an 11-month deployment to the Fifth Fleet area-of-operations. Forward-deployed and serving a mission against anti-piracy, Chelsea like others rarely received mail.

By the time the crew did receive mail it was the feeling of Christmas-at-Sea and Chelsea had received a care pack from her mother. Excited, she tore it open, reached inside, and was immediately heart broken when she realized that everything inside could no longer be eaten or used. Everything had either expired or melted. She coined this, a ‘Heartbreak in a Box.’

Chelsea realized that she wasn’t alone. Many of her fellow service members faced the same heartbreak and what’s more is that no one wanted to tell the thoughtful loved ones or supporters back home what had happened. After deployment, Chelsea set out to change this and to provide an opportunity for all of those at home to be able to send care packages easily and for those deployed to receive great care packs that they would love and use.

Since launching Troopster has changed the world of care packages. More than 12,000 U.S. troops have been impacted by Troopster and hundreds more are supported with Troopster packs every month thanks to the friends, families and communities who support our U.S. service members by way of Troopster.

To learn more about Troopster, visit their website at: https://www.troopster.org/pages/about.

Package Preparation