The men and women of United States military spend holidays away from their family and loved ones. In 2011 Operation Santa was able to send 20,900 Christmas stockings and 300 Hanukah bags to troops stationed around the world. To date, Operation Santa has shipped 174,637 stockings to American military men and women to say thanks and spread some holiday cheer to them so far away from home.

Once again for 2012 Operation Santa has set a goal of 20,000 hand made Christmas stockings for our military personnel who will spend the Holiday Season away from home. You have helped to exceed that goal in 2011 and your help will be needed again to achieve the 2012 goal.

You can help in a couple of ways. You can make a monetary donation that is tax deductible and will be used for shipping costs and to purchase stocking fillers. If you would like to make a monetary donation you can find the information on how to do that HERE.

You can also make a donation of the items listed below that will be used to fill the Christmas stockings before they are shipped to the men and women of the United States military around the world. Please remember that only TRAVEL SIZE items can be used in the stockings.

Here is a list of items that are being collected:

** Please no soap, glass, aerosol, or full-size products.
card or letter of support
small bags or sticks of beef jerky
individual drink mixes for bottled water
AA Batteries
instant soup
granola bars
chewing gum
breath mints
lip balm
white socks
hand wipes
pocket pack of tissues
hand sanitizer
toothbrushes
toothpaste - travel size ONLY
dental floss
snack-size bags
deodorant – solid
foot powder - travel size ONLY
feminine products
small game books (word-search, etc)
computer games
hard candy
hot cocoa 

You can drop off donation items here at the B104 Studios at 236 Greenwood Ave. in Bloomington during the business hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Other drops off locations around Bloomington-Normal are listed below. You can also find drop off locations around Central Illinois HERE.

Operation Santa Bloomington-Normal Drop Off Locations:

Any Bloomington-Normal Fire Station

Brad Barker Honda
1602 General Electric Road
Bloomington, IL

Curves Gym
1202 Towanda Avenue
Bloomington, IL

Curves Gym
1605 Morrissey Dr., Suite 103
Bloomington, IL

Veterans of Foreign Wars
VFW Post 454
1006 E Lincoln Street
Bloomington, IL

WMBD Studio
2714 E Lincoln
Bloomington, IL