Soldiers in Iraq unpack bags of sports gear and baseball bats sent by USA Cares. Courtesy Photo

USA Cares just couldn’t say no when PostalAnnex+ offered to collect sports equipment for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though the partnership will mean troops won’t receive the estimated 600 kits until later than scheduled.

“PostalAnnex+ called us and said their 300-plus stores would collect goods,” said Kim Moorman, director of business development for USA Cares, a Kentucky-based nonprofit organization that supports military families. “We figured, the more we can get, the better, so we extended the deadline to receive equipment for one more month.”

Louisville Slugger has sent sporting equipment to troops overseas for more than 40 years, Moorman said, and has long been receiving letters from troops requesting bats and other equipment.

In 2005, Louisville Slugger partnered with USA Cares to collect and send kits of baseball bats, gloves, baseballs, baseball caps, softballs, basketballs and nets, footballs, volleyballs and nets, Frisbees, NERF products, Hacky Sacs and hand air pumps with needles, which were organized into kits and sent to troops in a project coined “Operation Slugger.” Then, USA Cares collected 13.5 tons of new and gently used equipment; this year, USA Cares’ goal is to send 20 tons to troops overseas.

“It’s a good match for us, because as a mail and shipping business, we frequently send mail to military ad-dresses overseas,” said PostalAnnex+ vice President of marketing communi-cations Steve Goble. “In many of our markets, we are active in supporting military causes, because many of those people are our customers.”

Moorman said the equipment boosts troops’ morale and allows servicemen and women a chance to step away from their military duties.

“I think most of all, it gives you something to do,” said Misty Atkins, an Air Force staff sergeant from San Antonio who was deployed to Iraq last year. “Our base had two gyms, sports fields and courts, and almost everybody takes advantage of it. There’s not much else to do during downtime.”

The equipment drive was especially meaningful to Don Ortiz, who owns the local PostalAnnex+ at 18160 U.S. U.S. 281, which will collect equipment through Saturday. Then, DHL will pick up items collected nationwide and mail the kits to troops, who should receive the sporting equipment in January.

“We love doing stuff like this, because we see it every day,” Ortiz said. “We have mothers who come in and ship care packages to their sons and daughters, and we always hear the stories about what’s going on. Since we’re the only one (location) in San Antonio, we’re hoping to collect a lot.”