thedrifter
12-20-05, 04:51 AM
Simple touches of home for the troops serving overseas
Teen's Hugs for Heroes sends care packages with notes of gratitude
By Alison O'Leary Murray, Globe Correspondent | December 18, 2005
DOVER -- Mireille Manzone remembers a former soldier's talk about the war. She remembers touching the Iraqi military flag he had brought back, which was still sprinkled with desert sand. It shook her and inspired her, she said.
''I knew I had to do something," she said, recalling how she felt during the talk 18 months ago at a high school student leaders' conference in Washington, D.C. ''I'm grown up now. I can do something. It's not like when I was a little kid and would say, 'I wish I could help.' "
Manzone, an 18-year-old senior at Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, decided to do her part by forming Hugs for Heroes, an organization that sends care packages to American soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The effort has mushroomed through word of mouth, and she now sends dozens of boxes overseas nearly every month, about a ton of goods so far.
One room in her family's spacious Dover house was recently crowded with boxes being readied for shipment overseas for the holiday season.
The boxes can include everything from packs of gum to cards of encouragement written by elementary schoolchildren.
A homesick Marine in Afghanistan, for example, may receive a box from her next week, complete with snacks, a CD of popular music, new socks, candy canes, and a note from a St. Joseph's elementary school student, scrawled in pencil on red construction paper, reading, ''To my hero. God Bless You. Love Bridget."
Such care packages made a difference in the life of Tom O'Brien, a 23-year-old Needham native who returned in June from a yearlong tour with the Marines that included weeks in rugged terrain in Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border. Last year, he was one of the soldiers who received a Hugs for Heroes Christmas package from Manzone.
''She sent us candy, holiday stuff, and wool socks," he remembers. The socks were particularly important because the troops didn't have anywhere to buy them and the socks they had eventually fell apart, he said. ''A lot of guys in my group weren't as close to their families as I'm fortunate to be, so a lot of kids didn't get stuff [in the mail]. We shared everything, and the boxes were emptied pretty quickly."
They haven't met, but this year O'Brien plans to gather donations for Manzone and invite her and her family to dinner to show his appreciation. ''I definitely owe her," he said.
Setting up the program, Manzone has outgrown her initial shyness and learned bookkeeping, fund-raising, public speaking, and networking skills.
''I was shy, but I got all over that," she said, flipping her long blond locks over one shoulder. ''It's not for me. They're [soldiers] sacrificing so much; it's the least I can do."
Along the way, she has impressed many people, including local Veterans of Foreign Wars officials.
''Everyone has been very supportive of her, and they've been digging deep to help," said David Josselyn, a Natick resident and the VFW's state chairman for community activities.
His group gave Manzone an award last spring for her efforts. ''It's a symbol of what she's doing, but she really deserves 10 times that," Josselyn said.
At home, Manzone's mother, Sheila, said her two daughters were brought up with an appreciation of the sacrifices others have made for the country, including knowledge that a great-uncle died at Iwo Jima in World War II and that a great-grandfather served during the Civil War.
When they visited Mireille's sister, Mariel, at college in Washington this fall, the Manzones joined a prowar rally that was a counterpoint to California mother Cindy Sheehan's antiwar gathering at the same time.
''It's just a respect for the military and what they're doing," said Sheila Manzone.
Mireille Manzone has already shown great determination in other pursuits, such as winning the Rhode Island Tae Kwon Do State Championship last May, so her mother is confident that she'll make the right choices in the future, even if it includes military service, which has interested her for years.
''She's been talking about it since she was a little girl," Sheila Manzone said. ''She has very good judgment. She knows what she believes and why."
Mireille Manzone said her promilitary views aren't always in synch with her schoolmates and teachers.
A Noble and Greenough official said the school has tried to present a variety of views on the war.
''In my time here, the school has been very aware that school faculties in this region in general and perhaps ours tend to have a liberal bent," said Joyce Eldridge, director of communication for the private school.
To balance the debate, more than one war veteran has been invited to address students ''not to sway the kids, but just so they know there are different viewpoints out there," Eldridge said.
Manzone said she's learned to keep the debate over the war out of her pitch for donations and focus on the needs of soldiers.
''The way I presented it at school, people can't be against it. Whether you're for or against the war, you have to support the men," she said. ''If it wasn't for these guys, we wouldn't be here now. I would hope that if I were against the war I would still support the troops."
Alison O'Leary Murray can be reached at amurray@globe.com.
Ellie
Teen's Hugs for Heroes sends care packages with notes of gratitude
By Alison O'Leary Murray, Globe Correspondent | December 18, 2005
DOVER -- Mireille Manzone remembers a former soldier's talk about the war. She remembers touching the Iraqi military flag he had brought back, which was still sprinkled with desert sand. It shook her and inspired her, she said.
''I knew I had to do something," she said, recalling how she felt during the talk 18 months ago at a high school student leaders' conference in Washington, D.C. ''I'm grown up now. I can do something. It's not like when I was a little kid and would say, 'I wish I could help.' "
Manzone, an 18-year-old senior at Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, decided to do her part by forming Hugs for Heroes, an organization that sends care packages to American soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The effort has mushroomed through word of mouth, and she now sends dozens of boxes overseas nearly every month, about a ton of goods so far.
One room in her family's spacious Dover house was recently crowded with boxes being readied for shipment overseas for the holiday season.
The boxes can include everything from packs of gum to cards of encouragement written by elementary schoolchildren.
A homesick Marine in Afghanistan, for example, may receive a box from her next week, complete with snacks, a CD of popular music, new socks, candy canes, and a note from a St. Joseph's elementary school student, scrawled in pencil on red construction paper, reading, ''To my hero. God Bless You. Love Bridget."
Such care packages made a difference in the life of Tom O'Brien, a 23-year-old Needham native who returned in June from a yearlong tour with the Marines that included weeks in rugged terrain in Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border. Last year, he was one of the soldiers who received a Hugs for Heroes Christmas package from Manzone.
''She sent us candy, holiday stuff, and wool socks," he remembers. The socks were particularly important because the troops didn't have anywhere to buy them and the socks they had eventually fell apart, he said. ''A lot of guys in my group weren't as close to their families as I'm fortunate to be, so a lot of kids didn't get stuff [in the mail]. We shared everything, and the boxes were emptied pretty quickly."
They haven't met, but this year O'Brien plans to gather donations for Manzone and invite her and her family to dinner to show his appreciation. ''I definitely owe her," he said.
Setting up the program, Manzone has outgrown her initial shyness and learned bookkeeping, fund-raising, public speaking, and networking skills.
''I was shy, but I got all over that," she said, flipping her long blond locks over one shoulder. ''It's not for me. They're [soldiers] sacrificing so much; it's the least I can do."
Along the way, she has impressed many people, including local Veterans of Foreign Wars officials.
''Everyone has been very supportive of her, and they've been digging deep to help," said David Josselyn, a Natick resident and the VFW's state chairman for community activities.
His group gave Manzone an award last spring for her efforts. ''It's a symbol of what she's doing, but she really deserves 10 times that," Josselyn said.
At home, Manzone's mother, Sheila, said her two daughters were brought up with an appreciation of the sacrifices others have made for the country, including knowledge that a great-uncle died at Iwo Jima in World War II and that a great-grandfather served during the Civil War.
When they visited Mireille's sister, Mariel, at college in Washington this fall, the Manzones joined a prowar rally that was a counterpoint to California mother Cindy Sheehan's antiwar gathering at the same time.
''It's just a respect for the military and what they're doing," said Sheila Manzone.
Mireille Manzone has already shown great determination in other pursuits, such as winning the Rhode Island Tae Kwon Do State Championship last May, so her mother is confident that she'll make the right choices in the future, even if it includes military service, which has interested her for years.
''She's been talking about it since she was a little girl," Sheila Manzone said. ''She has very good judgment. She knows what she believes and why."
Mireille Manzone said her promilitary views aren't always in synch with her schoolmates and teachers.
A Noble and Greenough official said the school has tried to present a variety of views on the war.
''In my time here, the school has been very aware that school faculties in this region in general and perhaps ours tend to have a liberal bent," said Joyce Eldridge, director of communication for the private school.
To balance the debate, more than one war veteran has been invited to address students ''not to sway the kids, but just so they know there are different viewpoints out there," Eldridge said.
Manzone said she's learned to keep the debate over the war out of her pitch for donations and focus on the needs of soldiers.
''The way I presented it at school, people can't be against it. Whether you're for or against the war, you have to support the men," she said. ''If it wasn't for these guys, we wouldn't be here now. I would hope that if I were against the war I would still support the troops."
Alison O'Leary Murray can be reached at amurray@globe.com.
Ellie