I Stole a Pile of Love

I have plagiarized a local newpaper’s review from the site but it is a good cause. It tells the story. I just donated a couple of their packages for the holidays. Best investment I’ve made in a long time!

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The donation is a no brainer. For the price of a SnG or small rebuy you can just hop on Paypal and send your donation (A package is just $25.00) to donation@operationcarepackages.org. Maybe get your children involved in knowing that giving is better than receiving. You can get the kids involved with a drawing and mail that in with a check to their address:

Operation Care Package

611 Wilcox St.

Joliet, IL, 60435

How neat would it be for the kids to get an email from the soldier they sent their gift and drawing too? Get it going early and they can involve their playmates by doing a show and tell at school.

If you’re foreign, you can support your collition forces with a holiday package too:

http://soldiersangelseurope.org/

American soldiers get care packages from people they do not even know, and those packages are morale boosters. American soldiers get cards from kindergartens from sea to sea, and the soldiers paste the cards all over the walls of their headquarters and hospitals. I don’t know what it is about those homemade cards, with their squiggly letters, stick figures and smiley-faced suns, but whenever I am in hospitals in Iraq, those cards from the kids greatly lift my spirits. I’ve seen the British get cards and packages like this, but nothing like the quantity, variety and frequency of what American soldiers get. And, of course, not everyone was indifferent to British efforts in Iraq. - Michael Yon

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“They’ve got the halos.” These were the words Kathie Johnson used to describe Operation Care Package founders Debbie Smothers, Debbie Durawa and Pat Curran.

“They’re the real deal,” said Johnson, who, as the senior vice president of New Lenox VFW 9545’s Ladies Auxiliary, brought the idea of getting involved with the organization to the VFW. Johnson said the VFW will make a “major contribution” to Operation Care Package for Christmas, and she added that the VFW is also bringing its own donated items, as well.

“In the past we’ve sent out our own packages to the troops, but this is a nice way for us to help another organization,” Johnson said. “They’re really doing a lot of the coordinating, a lot of the legwork.

“It’s a godsend for us.”

Operation Care Package formed in March of 2003 after Curran met Smothers and Durawa in February while waiting for her son, Joe, to deploy to Iraq.

“Debbie Smothers’ brother was serving overseas; he was an Army Green Beret, and he was serving with three guys who weren’t getting any mail,” said Curran of the organization’s beginning.

Curran said it all started with a mere three packages in Debbie Smothers’ house, but in that first year the groups sent out 300 packages for Christmas alone. The group also moved into space donated by Country Insurance within the Will County Farm Bureau at 100 Manhattan Road in Joliet.

“By the end of the year I was hooked,” Curran said. And though her son’s tour of duty is up and Durawa’s son – who also served with the Army in Iraq – is stateside, the group has continued its efforts and now sends 140 to 150 packages each week overseas.

OCP’s emphasis is on those who don’t receive mail. However, Curran said any servicemen and women can be put on the list. She added that when her son returned home, he said most of his friends received more mail and packages from OCP than from their own families.

One item Curran said they can never get enough of is beef jerky, which is requested year-round. And while donations of supplies to fill the packages are always needed and appreciated, money for postage is just as important.

“We spend about $1,300 each week,” Curran said of the postage cost. And this Christmas, when OCP plans to reach 5,000 troops, Curran said the cost will be close to $20,000. The “Send Santa to the Troops” packages will include Christmas stockings, ornaments and other gifts, along with the usual assortment of cookies, candy, jerky, protein bars and powdered drink mixes. Curran said a personal letter is also included in every care package OCP sends to the troops. She added that the soldiers also enjoy receiving letters from children.

“They love letters from the kids, absolutely love them from the kids,” Curran said. OCP even has a special opportunity for kids and schools to get involved, called OCP Kids. Children can draw and color pictures and write letters to the soldiers that get sent with each package.

Students at Oster-Oakview School in New Lenox made their own contribution to OCP when they collected popcorn, candy canes and oatmeal to send to the troops. Canisters of silly string will also accompany many packages to provide the soldiers with some entertainment. Jennene Hollingsworth, the school’s information specialist, and sixth grade teacher Patty Mulder organized the donation, and on Nov. 7, about 40 members of the school’s Student Council packaged the items to send. The students also wrote letters to the soldiers, and one class made thank you cards.

“We know it’s appreciated,” Curran said. “We have scrapbooks full of stuff.”

She said they receive letters, pictures and e-mails thanking them for the packages. “I am thankful for the care package, but more importantly I am thankful for the people who took the time to support their troops, engaged in combat,” read one letter.

And not only does the group make sure thousands of soldiers receive something during mail call, they also help them call home. Curran said Farm Bureau in Joliet provides OCP with all its phone cards to send to troops. VFW 9545 is also helping ensure soldiers can talk to their friends and family with Operation Uplink. Johnson said $6,000 has been raised since April to purchase phone cards to give to those serving overseas and to hospitalized veterans.

“Never in our wildest dreams did we think we’d get to this,” Curran said.

For more information on how you can get involved with Operation Care Package, visit www.operationcarepackages.org

ADDENDUM:

Before I publish these, I do the NewsFox RSS stroll. Otis at Rapid Eye Reality is near the top of the list and always a good read. Today’s one of his reoccurring themes. It is the Beaver — Mike Myers cross. The script goes something like “Gee, Wally! We are not worthy!” As always, he provides a good read. Although, he’s going to be universally hated if he persist with the topic through the holiday season. Many people are looking toward a rough holiday over money, marriage failures, or some big loss. They really don’t need Mary Poppin’s brother Otis rubbing it in.

Actually the bragging isn’t that over the top. His Mike Myers side seems rampant. So, it is safe to go over there for your saccharine rush of damn good writing. And, if he’ll keep it varied, the suicide rate won’t spike over the holidays.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 22nd, 2007 at 7:28 am and is filed under Misc.. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.