The following letter is from the housing administrator at United Methodists Communities in Ocean City. The group seeks donations from local residents for the "Have A Heart for Veterans 2026" campaign.

Dear Friend, 

As we prepare to celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14, 2026, we are asking for your support with our annual Have a Heart for Veterans drive. This initiative provides Valentine’s gift bags to Veterans, with a primary focus on facilities throughout South Jersey, our home region. This year, due to growing need, we are also expanding our efforts to include a few additional Veteran facilities in North Jersey.

Gift bags will be delivered to The Memorial Veterans Home in Vineland, the Meadowview Veterans Unit in Northfield, and other Veteran facilities across South Jersey, as well as to homeless Veterans in Atlantic, Cape May, and Ocean counties. Because this is a large and meaningful undertaking, we truly need the community’s help to meet the demand. Your generosity allows us to honor our Veterans and surround them with love and appreciation on Valentine’s Day.

This is our 5th Annual Have a Heart Drive, and each year has been an incredible success thanks to the overwhelming generosity of our community. The project grows bigger every single year—as does the need.  This year our goal is 800 assembled “bags of love.” We truly cannot meet that goal without your help.

Items can be:

• Wrapped valentine heart candy boxes or sealed bagged candy. 
• Individual sealed packs of crackers, cookies, Tastykakes, trail mix, Little Debbie Cakes, potato chips, pretzels, cheese curls, Slim Jims, or any sugar free items.
• Any new items that are red, such as socks or gloves, tee shirts of any size, hats, sweatshirts.
• A gift card from Wawa, Walmart, Dunkin Donuts, etc. or any restaurant.

For your convenience, we have created an Amazon wish list: https://a.co/7dW8NTt. This allows you to easily order items online and have them delivered directly to our office. Please be sure to include your name at checkout so we know who to thank! If you are ordering food items, we kindly ask that you place your order closer to the donation deadline, as expiration dates on Amazon items may vary and we want to ensure all items are fresh for our Veterans.

If you are interested in participating in this wonderful cause, please contact Kathy Speer, at 609-399-6702, or Rebecca Visram at 609-399-6701. Any donation is welcome. We are asking for all donations to be made before February 9, 2026. 

Please call or drop off/send donations to:

• Wesley by the Bay - 2409 Bay Ave, Ocean City, NJ. 08226
• The Shores – 2201 Bay Avenue, Ocean City, NJ 08226

Thank you,

Kathy Speer
Housing Administrator
609-399-6702