With this week's shooting spree at Fort Hood and thousands more Americans serving in the military overseas, many people want to help.

The holidays are fast approaching and military families here are preparing care packages for lived ones, but there are things you need to know before sending that package – and you have to act fast.

When home is thousands of miles away the holidays can seem even farther, and a care package can make the difference.

"We didn't have any store nearby or any kind of commissary or any drugstore really so everything we really got was sent to us by our family members and care package organizations," said Sgt. Tim Fluechtling, with the National Guard.

Making your own care package is easy and inexpensive to ship.

Start with a mix of things – practical items such as sanitizer, foot powder and food like canned fruit.

Don't forget to include fun personal things, such as magazines.

Remember that certain items are prohibited or frowned upon in certain cultures.

"With Muslim countries, they don't want to have alcohol because they view alcohol as being anti-religious, and really bad in their culture," said Fluechtling.

You don't have to have a loved on in the military to show you care. There are plenty of organizations dedicated to supporting our service members.

"It was really important, definitely like a morale raiser, definitely made you feel good about what you were doing, knowing that people back home were still thinking about you, still caring about you," said Fluechtling.

If you want your package to arrive by the holidays they must be postmarked by Nov. 13.

For more information, check out the following links:

USO
Operation Gratitude
Carepackages.com