New York (CNN/Money) - It takes a lot to feed, clothe and comfort an army.

With about 250,000 troops deployed in and around Iraq, the amount of food, water, personal hygiene products and other stuff consumed by soldiers each day is overwhelming.

So far, the U.S. armed forces have moved the equivalent of 150 super Wal-Mart stores from the United States to the Iraqi battlefield, according to U.S. Central Command.

Although the American military provides men and women stationed in the Gulf and elsewhere in the world with the basic necessities, troops still crave creature comforts, like magazines, compact discs, footballs and calling cards.

Companies pitching in Corporations are donating to the troops Company  Donation  Tyson Foods  food  Krispy Kreme  coffee  Caesar's Palace  playing cards, CDs  AOL Time Warner  care package program  Lowe's   care package program  Bookspan  books  AT&T  phone cards  Luxottica (Italian co.)  Ray-Ban sunglasses  BAE Systems  USO contributor  Anheuser-Busch  USO contributor  Clear Channel  USO contributor  Coca-Cola  USO contributor  Amazon  USO contributor   Source:  USO, companies

So with a flourish of patriotism (and just a bit of good old Yankee p.r.), Corporate America is chipping in with millions of dollars in cash and goods to help make life away from home a little easier for the troops.

Corporate donations to the United Service Organizations (USO), a non-profit organization that provides morale, welfare and recreational services to the military, have increased significantly since the start of the war.

Among the USO's largest benefactors are Amazon.com, Anheuser-Busch, AT&T, BAE Systems, Clear Channel, Coca-Cola and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Until recently, troops received morale-boosting letters via programs like Operation Dear Abby and care packages through the Any Service Member Campaign. But following the attacks of September 11, 2001, both of these programs were suspended for security reasons.

The military can only accept parcels addressed to a specific person, and even then there may be restrictions on what can and cannot be included in the packages and under what conditions they will be delivered.

These days, troops are given words of encouragement via the e-mail version of Operation Dear Abby. Company commanders print the messages and distribute them to troops.

Anyone who wishes to send a care package to a service member they don't know is asked to do so by donating to organizations like the USO, which assembles and distributes care packages paid for by individuals and corporations. The contents of the packages vary but typically include such things CDs, magazines, toiletries and sunscreen.

Currently the troops receive the packages while they're still in the country, just before they're deployed. "We have not sent a care package overseas to date," said Diane Rogers, director of corporate donations for the USO world headquarters. The USO is now adapting their care packages for troops who are already overseas.

So far, 40,000 USO care packages have been delivered to troops and 50,000 more will soon be bound for U.S. Central Command.

To date, Lowe's has donated $250,000 specifically to the care package program, as well as issues of its Nascar fan club magazine "Track Record."

America Online (which is owned by CNN/Money's parent company, AOL Time Warner) has donated $72,000 and 45,000 music CDs. World Wrestling Entertainment has donated copies of its magazine, Bonnie Bell cosmetics has kicked in 50,000 tubes of chapstick, and Quilted Northern has contributed baby wipes.

Troops being deployed in the coming weeks will get an extra special send off. Tyson Foods has donated more than 70,000 pounds of canned chicken and chicken-salad kits to Fort Hood, Texas and Hampton Roads, Virginia for service members to take along with them.

Prepaid calling cards are in great demand for homesick troops.

In March, AT&T said it is donating 160,000 prepaid phone cards -- worth $3 million -- to troops in Iraq, to be distributed by the USO. According to AT&T, men and women stationed in the Gulf can call home for 30 cents a minute if they use prepaid cards designed for international calls.

Harris Teeter's, a supermarket chain on the East Coast, plans to donate 20,000 calling cards as well. The chain is selling American flags and using the proceeds to help fund the $20 calling cards.

(Individuals can donate calling cards via the USO's Operation Phone Home or Veterans of Foreign Wars Foundation's Operation Uplink.)

While prepaid calling cards and care packages are welcomed, the USO says it is desperately looking to replenish supplies on bases in Germany, which are passing through points for deployed troops, as well as for Germany's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the military's largest hospital overseas. (In yet another example of corporate do-gooding, the H.J. Heinz Co. flew the parents of former POW Pfc. Jessica Lynch to Landstuhl in the company's Gulfstream jet this past weekend.)

"We're looking for donations of clothing because a lot of the injured are coming in with only the clothes on their back or no clothes at all. We are also looking for shoes, entertainment items and food donations," said Rogers, adding that the Department of Defense requires that such products come directly from manufacturers and in many cases in sealed packaging.

In response to this latest request for supplies in Germany, Krispy Kreme has donated coffee pots, stirrers and coffee, Bookspan has donated 10,000 books, Caesar's Palace has donated compact discs and playing cards and Luxottica, maker of Ray-Bans, has donated 3,800 pairs of sunglasses.

The USO's wish list is long and growing. Still needed are mints, energy bars, microwave popcorn, board games, large-screen televisions, magazines, pens, toothpaste and toothbrushes, wet wipes, deodorant and numerous other supplies.

Of course, added Rogers, companies -- and individuals -- can also do their part by simply writing a check. Visit the USO site for details.