The Jawinn Comic Drive, in partnership with Operation Gratitude and Collectors Paradise, is collecting comic books to send to US military members deployed overseas, and you can help them hit their goal!
Jawinn Comic Drive was founded by Jason Inman (Jawinn = Jason William Inman), himself an Army vet and author. 2019 marks the five year anniversary of the Comic Drive, and over those five years, Jawinn has sent over 134,964 comic books to service members and their families.
From November 1st through November 30, Jason is looking to collect 15,000 comics for Operation Gratitude to send to the service members to read in their care packages through the holidays and the new year. The comics can be from any company or genre and can include graphic novels and trade paperbacks! Jason just asks that you keep the books family-friendly, as some comics will be sent to soldiers’ family and children.
Let Jason tell you about the project himself:
Old and new comics in new and fine condition are welcome, but please make sure the comics are in good reading condition. If you wouldn’t read a book that’s falling apart, please don’t gift it to a soldier. Plus, if you wish to include personal letters of support to the servicemen, send them along with your comics!
How to donate:
1 – Fill out the donation form at https://www.operationgratitude.com/product-donation/
If you want to add other items you see on their list — batteries, deodorant, sunscreen, please feel free to add those to the package as well! Please make sure to put “Jawiin Comic Drive for Service Members” in the Product Donation Information Section. The rest of the form is pretty self-explanatory.
2 – Box and ship the comics and the donation form to:
Operation Gratitude , 21100 Lassen St. Chatsworth, CA 91311
(IMPORTANT: Please include a donation form in EVERY box even if they’re part of the same donation. Sometimes cartons don’t all arrive at the same time.)
3 – Send a picture of your comics and the number of books you are donating to jawiincomicdrive@gmail.com. (If you don’t send your number to the email, they will have an inaccurate count and the drive could fail. Let’s get these soldiers some comics for the new year!)
And for Los Angeles locals:
For Los Angeles locals, all three Collectors Paradise comic shops will serve as drop off locations. And for every comic book dropped off to a Collectors Paradise location, the store will match the donation with an equal number of comic books.
To help kick off the drive, Collectors Paradise’ brand new NoHo Arts District location will host a Jawiin Comic Book Drive event on Sunday, November 10th, 2019 (the day before Veterans Day), featuring several LA-based comic book artists! If you donate more than 25 comics during the event you will get a free sketch from:
- Bernard Chang (Teen Titans)
- Norm Rapmund (Booster Gold)
- Sherard Jackson (Darbi)
- Brian Lopez (B2rianls)
With signed prints from Superman artist, Jonboy Meyers! You can learn more about the event on its official Facebook page here.
About Operation Gratitude:
Every year, Operation Gratitude sends 250,000+ individually addressed care packages to Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines deployed overseas, to their children left behind, and to New Recruits, Veterans, First Responders, Wounded Heroes, and their Caregivers. Each package contains food, hygiene products, entertainment, and handmade items, as well as personal letters of support.
