By Suzanne Hodgson
Staff Writer

A local care package drive has successfully touched a number of Maine soldiers stationed overseas, as well as the woman who started the drive.
Melissa Provencher of Biddeford began a care package drive from her Kennebunk business Brown Fox Printing in December. Now she is teaming up with other organizations for collections. An associated Brown Fox location in Scarborough is owned by Russ Burleigh.
Provencher is asking for cell phones as part of the Cell Phones for Soldiers Drive. The drive takes old cell phones and recycles them to give soldiers an hour worth of phone cards to call home.
Malcolm Kenney of Pease Greeters has been handing out phone cards to soldiers going overseas and asked Provencher to help with donations. Kenney also gave her cards to put in the care packages. Pease Greeters greet every incoming and outgoing flight of soldiers at Pease Air Terminal in Portsmouth, N.H.
A brother and sister in Norwell, Mass, started the cell phone drive in 2004 when they heard of a soldier who spent thousands of dollars calling home and wanted to do something to help.
Now the drive has grown across the country and in the past five years the program has handed out more than 500,000 calling cards to soldiers overseas.
Provencher’s Care Package drive has grown, too.
She began the drive by asking for flea collars soldiers could wear around their boots, lip balm, toothpaste and nonperishable foods to include in 25 packages for Maine soldiers stationed overseas.
Since that time, Provencher has sent out 100 care packages to soldiers from across the country, and said she has no plans to stop, even though her original Jan. 31 deadline has passed.
Just last week she said she had more donations.
Provencher has received thousands of tubes of lip balm, donated toothpaste from Tom’s of Maine and more than $5,000 to help ship the boxes overseas. Donations have come from Connecticut to northern Maine.  
“It’s mostly retired military guys,” she said. Her father is a military veteran, but she didn’t realize how many veterans lived in Maine until the drive.
“A friend told me recently there are 175,000 veterans living in Maine,” said Provencher.
In the beginning, Provencher had a list of all the soldiers from Maine and sent out care packages to every name on her list.
“I know they’re sharing what’s in the boxes,” she said.
Now she has moved on to base camps or any soldier’s name she finds as donations keep pouring in. A few weeks ago a woman came in with a bag of donations and asked her to send one to her grandson and one of his bunkmates who never received any mail.
When the drive first started Provencher said how amazing it would be if she ever heard from one soldier who received her package. Since December, she has received five letters, one bouquet and a phone call from soldiers who are thankful for what she is doing.
“These will be my most treasured possessions,” she says of the letters she has received from soldiers.
Provencher has even adopted the soldier who called her through Soldier’s Angels program and has since been sending regular e-mails and letters to the unit.
“People are so appreciative, it’s been such a success, I can’t even tell you,” said Provencher.
Donations to Cell Phones for Soldiers and Provencher’s Care Package Drive can be made at Brown Fox Printing in Kennebunk and Biddeford.

Staff Writer Suzanne Hodgson can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 233.