In April 2004, Mary Margaret Halleck of Colleyville, Texas, started sending goodie boxes to her stepson and his unit in Iraq.

When her stepson, Tom Halleck, returned from Iraq in November 2004, she randomly sent boxes to other soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan until she received a letter from LT Gary Bartholomew who requested school supplies to win the hearts of the children.

After she started sending those items she learned from Gary and other soldiers how this outreach builds faith and trust with the people towards our soldiers and our country. Eventually boxes of shoes, socks, and even used clothes from her friends and nearby garage sales were sent to help the children.

 

It was gratifying to hear that the simple act of giving a pencil, beanie babies or candy to an Iraqi child led to the discovery of storehouses of dangerous weapons.  Everyone was safer when these were removed by our soldiers.  This was also a way to help build a better Iraq and to develop a positive spirit with the future leaders of a free country - one child at a time.

In June 2005, Mary Margaret enlisted the help of her friends to find ways to send more supplies to the children and people of Iraq so victory would be near and our soldiers could come home.

After many discussions the Victory Box was born.  The weekend of October 1st, 2005,  Mary Margaret and a few friends handed out Victory Boxes at the Fort Worth Home and Garden Show.  Over this weekend, 128 Victory Boxes were handed out.

Encouraged with the support, Mary Margaret  went on to speak at numerous venues where she could  actually explain and show pictures of the great things our soldiers are doing to help the people of Iraq. 

She has also handed out Victory Boxes in many different places including the Sam’s Club in Grapevine, Texas, the Neil Sperry Home and Garden Show in Arlington, Texas, Southlake Stars and Strips Celebration, etc,  and many civic groups.

In the Spring of 2007 Mary Margaret, her fellow Tarrant County Master Gardeners, and members of the Garden Council of Fort Worth and Seeds for Life of Houston, Texas began collecting items and donations for postage to send  Victory Gardening Totes to Iraq and Afghanistan. In November 2007 the first 200 were shipped.  As of April 30th, 2008, 499 of the Victory Gardening Totes have been shipped.

Victory Boxes are now available for pick-up at the Southlake Library,  Hart Pool in Colleyville and there are people working hard to distribute Victory Boxes in Houston, TX,  and Tallahassee, FL.

In over 4 years almost 20,000 Victory Boxes have been sent from all 50 states.

Effective June 14th, 2007, Victory Boxes became a non-profit organization 501(c) 3.

In January 2008 Victory Boxes became a member of the Department of Defense, America Supports You.