Print  email 

Special delivery

Students, community groups send love, treats and prayers to troops

DEBBY ABE; The News Tribune | • Published November 09, 2009

• Comments (0)

Soldiers in mechanic Good Adam’s squad could use laundry soap and boxer briefs.

They’d love protein bars, Heath bars and vitamins, he writes on www.anysoldier.com, a site of wish lists from deployed soldiers. Maybe some nonfiction books or Xbox and PC games to play when they’re not repairing Strykers and other vehicles from Fort Lewis’s 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.

They’re roughing it in tents in Afghanistan, he wrote in an Oct. 20 post, and there’s nary a store in sight.

“I have noticed my soldiers never receive any parcel,” Adam wrote. “Well beside bills. LOL.”

Enter the folks on the home front.

An army of volunteers from youngsters to businessmen to senior citizens throughout the South Sound is mobilizing to send goodies and good wishes to deployed soldiers.

Puyallup community members and businesses recently collected two vans worth of snacks, books and other items and $7,100 to mail the care packages in just over two weeks. The gifts are headed for the 5th Stryker Brigade in Afghanistan, the brigade that’s lost at least 26 members in southern Afghanistan – including eight on Oct. 27 – since arriving there in July.

“People just gave from their hearts,” said Puyallup City Council member Kathy Turner, who spearheaded Puyallup’s contribution to the Operation Make a Soldier Smile effort based in DuPont and Steilacoom. “It doesn’t matter how you feel about the war. It matters how you support our soldiers.”

Kids at Greenwood, Dower and Southgate elementary schools in Lakewood are partnering with community groups to send letters and care packages to troops in the Middle East.

For those and other children in the communities surrounding Fort Lewis, the projects hold special significance. They might be sending packages to moms or dads, to neighbors and family friends.

At Nisqually Middle School in Lacey, more than a quarter of the school’s 580 students have parents who retired from the military or are on active duty, including 50 who are deployed, according to teacher Shannon Saucier.

Emily McGlothern was thinking of her favorite uncle deployed to Afghanistan when she contributed a grocery bag full of Oreos, trail mix, fruit cups, candy and shoe insoles for the school’s support project. Camarin Harris, the daughter of a Navy retiree, enclosed a prayer with the items she brought and wrote a letter saying she knew how it felt to have a loved one stationed far from home.

Classmate Quinton Woods brought Crystal Light drink flavoring and a dollar to help pay for shipping the boxes. He earned the dollar doing chores at home.

“I think the Army needs as much stuff as they can get,” said the 12-year-old, who plans to join the military when he grows up, just like his dad Steven Woods, a full-time chief warrant officer in the Army Reserve. “They’re working their butts off to keep this country safe. We should give them as much as they’re giving to us.”

The public’s efforts are a huge morale booster, say soldiers and group organizers.

“It’s not so much the box you send, it’s the letter in the box that truly matters,” said Army retiree Marty Horn, whose www. anysoldier.com has assisted nearly 94,000 deployed soldiers the past six years. “By far, the most popular thing is a letter.”

Horn, of Indiana, said it’s best to know specific items individual soldiers want because their locations and needs vary dramatically.

Troops in Iraq, for instance, are more likely to have access to a post exchange store for military personnel, while those in Afghanistan’s remote deserts may need basics like deodorant and tampons.

Washington National Guard Capt. Frank Selden returned in September from the U.S. military base in Ramadi, Iraq. He recalled the base receiving holiday care packages last year stuffed with Christmas stockings, cards, ornaments, chocolate, DVDs, ramen noodles, smoked salmon, and his all-time favorite, Aplets & Cotlets from Washington.

They didn’t really need some of the gifts – white socks, underwear, telephone calling cards. The base’s AT&T call center had shut down because people were using Skype for free at base computer labs to communicate with loved ones.

“We had a full PX on our base, and we could get to Iraqi shops. We had access to almost anything we wanted,” said Selden, 47, a member of the Guard’s 81st Brigade Combat Team at Camp Murray. “We forwarded a lot of the support to soldiers who wouldn’t get mail as often.”

He advised contacting a group such as Operation Support Our Troops that is in direct contact with overseas units and knows what they need.

But he stressed his gratitude to the volunteers on the home front.

“It really helped to bring a feeling of Christmas right where I was at,” Selden said. “I was appreciative of everything they did, and feeling grateful there are people back home wanting to reach out and to remind us they’re thinking about us, and praying for us. I thought it was awesome.”

Debby Abe: 253-597-8694

debby.abe@thenewstribune.com