RED CROSS TO SEND GIFTS TO MILITARY.

Byline: Daily News

PALMDALE - With unsolicited packages from the general public to U.S. military personnel banned because of the threat they could contain poisons or explosives, the Red Cross is stepping in to act as intermediary.

This week, the Antelope Valley Red Cross office will collect donations of candies, toiletries, music CDs and other gifts to send on to American military overseas.

``We have had quite a few calls, and this was requested through national (Red Cross headquarters), so I guess they've had quite a few requests,'' said Sarah Gonzalez, secretary at the Palmdale Red Cross office. Items may be dropped off from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today through Friday and from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday at the Red Cross Antelope Valley Chapter, 2715 E. Ave. P.

Because of security restrictions, only certain items will be accepted, the Red Cross said. Small- or medium-sized items are best, officials said. For more information, call [phone].

Acceptable are individually wrapped pieces of hard candy, such as Twizzlers, Tootsie Rolls, bubble gum, Skittles, lollipops and Life Savers; microwave popcorn packs; peanuts, pretzels or other snack foods; and packs of coffee, sugar, creamer, tea bags, hot chocolate and hot cider or of sweetened Kool-Aid, Gatorade and other sweetened drink mixes.

Also acceptable are hand wipes, small bottles of hand sanitizer or sunscreen of at least 15 SPF; wrap-around sunglasses; batteries; blank greeting cards; and toiletry items such as nonaerosol shaving creams, razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste and shower soap and gel.

Other acceptable items include movie videos, DVDs, music CDs and cassettes and small pencil sharpeners.

People can also donate playing cards; small board games such as chess, checkers or cribbage; jigsaw puzzles; recent paperback books, especially mysteries, action, drama and science fiction; puzzle books; and comic books.

The donations will be collected this week only, the Red Cross said.

Monetary donations are also requested to help cover the costs of shipping, estimated at $1 per pound of goods, the Red Cross said.

The military is only accepting public donations of articles through shipments from the American Red Cross offices, the Red Cross said.

On Saturday, Pentagon officials asked Americans not to send unsolicited mail, care packages or donations to service member, except to relatives and friends.

The Defense Department suspended its ``Any Servicemember'' mail programs last October out of concern that they provided a way to introduce hazardous substances into the mail system from unknown sources.

Unsolicited mail, packages and donations from organizations and individuals also compete for limited airlift space used to transport supplies, war-fighting materiel and mail from family and loved ones, the Pentagon said.

Defense officials said they recently become aware of organizations and individuals who got around the suspension of the ``Any Servicemember'' program by using the names and addresses of individual service members and unit addresses.

Some individuals and groups publicized the names and addresses of service members, ships or units on Web sites.

To show support to troops overseas, the Pentagon said people can log on to Web sites to send greeting cards, virtual thank-you cards and calling card donations to help troops stay in contact with loved ones.

Those Web sites are: www.defendamerica.mil/support-troops.html; www.usocares.org/home.htm; www.army.mil/operations/iraq/faq.html.