Q: Can I write multiple letters to different service members to include as part of the letter writing campaign?
A: No. You can personally only write one letter. Each letter must be written by a different person. Our 10,000 letters must be from 10,000 different people.
Q: Does each letter need to be addressed to a different service member?
A: No. If you plan to submit 50 letters, all of those letters could be addressed to the same service member. However, those 50 letters must be written by 50 different people. Only one letter per person can be submitted. Alternatively, if you plan to submit 50 letters, 10 of them could be addressed to one service member, 10 of them could be addressed to a different service member, etc. It is up to you how many different individual service members you would like to address your letters to, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be to different service members.
Q: The world record title states “Most letters to military personnel collected in one month.” Does our chapter or state have to collect our letters in only one month?
A: No. Your state or chapter can be collecting letters from your community over the next few months leading up to Continental Congress. The official world record attempt is being made by the National Society, so the “one month” the National Society will be collecting ALL of the cards will be in June, during Continental Congress. The entire batch of the world record attempt cards will therefore be collected and counted in June and then subsequently mailed in June, thus adhering to the world record title for “collected in one month.” So remember to bring your letters to Washington, D.C. in June so they can be counted as the official attempt.
Q: I am working with my daughter’s 3rd grade class for each of them to write a letter to include with the letters we are submitting from our chapter. Can we use the address of their elementary school as the return address on the letters instead of their personal home addresses?
A: Yes. It is okay to use the same return address on the letters as long as each letter is written and signed by different individuals. So if a group of school kids write letters, they can all use their school address for the return address. Similarly, any group that participates in the letter writing campaign (DAR chapter, business, church, VFW, etc) can use their group’s address as the return address as long as they put their name at the top of the group address.
Q: We’re planning to host a table outside our local grocery store and provide cards for people to write letters as they come and leave the grocery store. To make it faster/easier, can we address the envelopes ourselves and use our chapter house as the return address so that the public can just write the letter to the service member and then we’ll put it in the envelope we have already addressed/stamped.
A: Yes. That would be a very efficient way to get more letters from the community. Each envelope doesn’t need to be addressed by a different individual, only the letter itself (i.e. each individual needs to handwrite the initial greeting, the thank you message and sign their personal name – but they don’t have to personally address the envelope that the letter goes in). Please just include the letter writers name at the top of the return address above the address of your chapter house.
Q: We’re planning on gathering hundreds of letters from our chapter members and community members. Does each card have to have a handwritten envelope or can we type up printed address labels and return labels to adhere to the envelope?
A: The envelope address and return address do not need to be handwritten. You can use printed address labels.
Q: My son is a service member. I wrote a letter to him and mailed it to him directly. Does that letter count towards the World Record attempt?
A: No. All letters must be brought to Washington, D.C. during the week of Congress and submitted in the designated World Record boxes at DAR Headquarters in order for ALL the letters to be collected together and counted by the Guinness World Record Adjudicator. The entire collection of letters will subsequently be mailed from DAR Headquarters after Congress. Any letters that are mailed by the individual who wrote them directly to the service member will NOT be counted towards the World Record.
Q: I know a service member whose address is not on the address list on the DAR Website. Is it okay if my chapter addresses all our letters to that service member?
A: Yes. Any one submitting a letter who knows the address of an active duty service member can address their letter to them. The letters submitted do not need to be addressed to one of the service members listed on the DAR Website, those are only provided if your chapter does not have any addresses for military personnel.
Q: I know of a service member’s address that can be used by other members for the World Record project, how can I share this address with others?
A: You can email the address to [email protected] for it to be added to the list on the website at www.dar.org/WorldRecord. Please be sure to confirm with the person that it is ok to share the address and they are comfortable distributing letters to fellow military members.
Q: Can only DAR members write the letters to the service members for them to be counted for the World Record.
A: No. The letters can be written by ANYONE. DAR is organizing the World Record attempt but each of the letters do NOT need to be written by a DAR member for the letters to count toward our 10,000 goal.
Q: Should the letters be stamped, have an address and return address and be sealed when they are dropped off at Congress?
A: No, the letters should NOT be sealed when you drop them off at Congress, but they should be stamped and include an address and return address.
Q: I am not able to travel to Washington, D.C. and no one from my chapter is able to attend Continental Congress. Can we still participate in this project?
A: Yes. Your chapter can write letters and give them to another chapter in your city or state who you know will have a member attending Congress. If you do not know anyone in your area who is able to go to Congress, contact your State Regent to see if there is a way you can combine your letters with someone else in the state who will be bringing letters to Congress.
Q: Are men able to submit letters? I want to ask my husband’s SAR chapter to write letters to combine with the letters that my chapter are writing.
A: Yes. Any and all types of people are able to participate in this letter writing campaign – except they can each only write one letter each.
Q: Is it okay for my husband to collect letters from his colleagues at his business to give to me to bring to Continental Congress to submit.
A: Yes. You can promote the letter writing campaign to any individuals or groups in your local community. A DAR member just needs to collect them and bring them all to Continental Congress to submit them for the World Record attempt.
Q: Can I bring just my one letter to submit when I come to Congress?
A: No. Volume does matter for this project and so we ask that you work with your chapter or with another group in your community so that you submit your letters together. We prefer that the letters are submitted in bundles of 50 when submitted at Congress so that it will be more efficient for the Guinness World Record Adjudicator to count all 10,000 of the letters (we do not want to have to be counting individual letters!).
Q: What if my chapter has gathered a large amount of letters but we’re just short of being able to bundle them all in sets of 50. For instance we have gathered 392 letters and we have bundled them in 7 sets of 50, but we still have 42 more cards we want to also submit? Can we still submit letters?
A: Yes. Please try to submit all letters in bundles of 50 to help with counting purposes. However, if you have a bundle that doesn’t quite total 50, please clearly label it to show exactly how many letters are part of that bundle. It will take more time to count and consolidate all of the letters, but every letter does matter so we do want you to bring them even if your bundles don’t all equal 50 letters.
Q: Where do we turn over our letters when we get to Congress?
A: There will be clearly visible and labeled stations at DAR Headquarters for where you submit your letters. The stations will be located on the Congress maps as well as people throughout the building who can help direct member to where the letter collecting stations are located.
Learn more about this exciting opportunity at the 125th Continental Congress:
Do you think we can set the record by collecting 10,000 letters? Of course we can! Don’t miss this opportunity to help DAR establish a world record in patriotism!
