Hug-A-Hero

This is something I want to do!

Hug-a-Hero is not what you are thinking. I hug my husband and kids often (ha ha).

Being part of a military community I see a lot of what a deployment does to each part of a family. Not just my own family but other people I know. It affects the spouse, the parent and beyond. I want to help and I know that I can only help in a small way.

I've seen a few dads leave the last few months where the little ones are so little they don't know what is going on. Grandmas are coming down to "visit" for months and daddy is going away. Or there routines are changing because mom now has to handle everything on her own and she is making do with the time she has. This is true of every deployment. Thankfully the boys handle deployments as well as can be expected. Maddie has only been through one and she was small enough she really didn't know what was going on. This time she will be two and will definitely know what is going on. She's the one I know I am most worried about.

I want to start ordering Hug-A-Hero dolls for kids who are in need of support and whose family may not have the knowledge of the doll or may not be able to afford one.
Wait a minute?! What's a Hug-A-Hero doll you ask. :)

Basically, you take a photo of the family member and it gets put on the front. The back is a design either their uniform or a solid color.

These come in many sizes. But to keep the uniformity of it all I think I would stick with one size.
There are 12" 17" and 3 Feet. I believe that 12" would be the right size. It could fit inside of a backpack if needed. The cost is $23.95 plus $5.35 in shipping for each doll. I would love to do everyone all by myself but I couldn't.

I'm debating on doing this a few different ways.

1. Setting up an email address for this alone. Trying to figure out what that email address should be.

2. Setting up a paypal account for this based off of that email address. Depending on how fruitful this idea is a bank account all of its own so everything can be easily traced.

3. My most difficult area would be setting up an application for each order. I know that I can't order on a first come first serve basis because of limited funds. I would need to have a way to decide who is more in need of this items. Whether it be their first deployment, their 8th deployment, they are in trouble at school etc. Any suggestions would be awesome!

So - What started this thought process? There are two little boys at the daycare my kids go to. They are four and one. Dad left right before Christmas. They were being taken out of daycare because mom's schedule was different daily and her mom came down to help. Well these boys have been in daycare since they were born. Now they are at home with grandma. Which is great! But not only did their dad leave, but so did their routine and their friends. I felt bad. I discussed this idea with girls at daycare and they all wanted to chip in to buy these two boys a doll. So became the idea.

I would love to have all the thoughts and feedback that anyone could offer. I want to make this happen I just need to know that I am on the right path.

Thanks so much for reading this far!!