thedrifter
11-28-06, 07:23 AM
11/28/06
Christmas cheer from Englewood to Fallujah
ENGLEWOOD -- It may be just a small shoebox, but when you're patrolling in a war zone 12 miles outside of Fallujah, it feels like a big hug from home.
Kathy McLeod got the idea recently to send boxes of treats to Marines in Iraq after her son noticed troops leaving for the war with few extra items.
Rodney McLeod, 33, a 1992 graduate of Lemon Bay High School, is a Marine gunnery sergeant who has been in the Fallujah region since September.
Before he shipped out, he told his mother about watching troops getting ready to leave from San Diego.
"He was amazed that these kids had basically nothing," Kathy McLeod said.
Kathy had the idea to collect useful items in shoeboxes and send them to the troops.
She mentioned this to friends and patrons at Calico Jacks, the 1950 Beach Road nightclub where she works.
They wanted to get involved.
Kathy soon had 42 boxes. Turn around, and she had more than 200.
"It's mushroomed," she said Monday.
The Atamanchuks, who owned the Lock & Key restaurant on Beach Road, got into the act. The Nam Knights motorcycle club joined in, as did the Disabled American Veterans in Nokomis.
"For me to do this personally, I've been overwhelmed," Kathy said. "The generosity of these people has been amazing."
The boxes are stuffed with useful items and fun items: snacks, beef jerky, candy, cookies, disposable razors, paper, pens, sweatbands, gum, and even some cans of good ol' American canned ravioli.
And they're pretty heavy.
Each box weighs about 27 pounds. And the cost for shipping each box by priority mail is $52.
No problem, Kathy said. One customer with deep pockets and a big heart volunteered to pay for postage.
The boxes are being shipped by priority mail so that they arrive in Iraq in two weeks, instead of the usual month.
The boxes will be shipped to Rod McLeod's unit near Fallujah. They will be passed out to the 42 people in his platoon, and to members of the other platoons in the compound. Then, when McLeod goes out into the field, he'll bring along extra boxes for the other troops he encounters.
Kathy McLeod emphasized she did not need, or particularly want, any more help or money or donated items. Read again: Did not want more help now.
On Friday, the Calico Jacks crowd will box everything up and then bring it down to Englewood Post Office on Friday to ship out.
The loot should get there by Christmas.
"It's a Christmas-time, feel-wonderful thing," she said.
And Kathy is happy about the support the boys and girls serving in the war are receiving from all she has encountered here.
"What amazes me is that I thought I'd meet a lot of opposition. But it doesn't matter how people feel about the war, or the president, they're all supportive of the troops," she said.
To top it off, the boxes will have personal notes and messages from many of the donors, many including names and e-mail addresses.
"Every box has a note, many that have brought me to tears" the Marine's mother said.
You can e-mail Stephen Baumann at sbaumann@sun-herald.com.
By STEPHEN BAUMANN
Englewood Editor
Ellie
Christmas cheer from Englewood to Fallujah
ENGLEWOOD -- It may be just a small shoebox, but when you're patrolling in a war zone 12 miles outside of Fallujah, it feels like a big hug from home.
Kathy McLeod got the idea recently to send boxes of treats to Marines in Iraq after her son noticed troops leaving for the war with few extra items.
Rodney McLeod, 33, a 1992 graduate of Lemon Bay High School, is a Marine gunnery sergeant who has been in the Fallujah region since September.
Before he shipped out, he told his mother about watching troops getting ready to leave from San Diego.
"He was amazed that these kids had basically nothing," Kathy McLeod said.
Kathy had the idea to collect useful items in shoeboxes and send them to the troops.
She mentioned this to friends and patrons at Calico Jacks, the 1950 Beach Road nightclub where she works.
They wanted to get involved.
Kathy soon had 42 boxes. Turn around, and she had more than 200.
"It's mushroomed," she said Monday.
The Atamanchuks, who owned the Lock & Key restaurant on Beach Road, got into the act. The Nam Knights motorcycle club joined in, as did the Disabled American Veterans in Nokomis.
"For me to do this personally, I've been overwhelmed," Kathy said. "The generosity of these people has been amazing."
The boxes are stuffed with useful items and fun items: snacks, beef jerky, candy, cookies, disposable razors, paper, pens, sweatbands, gum, and even some cans of good ol' American canned ravioli.
And they're pretty heavy.
Each box weighs about 27 pounds. And the cost for shipping each box by priority mail is $52.
No problem, Kathy said. One customer with deep pockets and a big heart volunteered to pay for postage.
The boxes are being shipped by priority mail so that they arrive in Iraq in two weeks, instead of the usual month.
The boxes will be shipped to Rod McLeod's unit near Fallujah. They will be passed out to the 42 people in his platoon, and to members of the other platoons in the compound. Then, when McLeod goes out into the field, he'll bring along extra boxes for the other troops he encounters.
Kathy McLeod emphasized she did not need, or particularly want, any more help or money or donated items. Read again: Did not want more help now.
On Friday, the Calico Jacks crowd will box everything up and then bring it down to Englewood Post Office on Friday to ship out.
The loot should get there by Christmas.
"It's a Christmas-time, feel-wonderful thing," she said.
And Kathy is happy about the support the boys and girls serving in the war are receiving from all she has encountered here.
"What amazes me is that I thought I'd meet a lot of opposition. But it doesn't matter how people feel about the war, or the president, they're all supportive of the troops," she said.
To top it off, the boxes will have personal notes and messages from many of the donors, many including names and e-mail addresses.
"Every box has a note, many that have brought me to tears" the Marine's mother said.
You can e-mail Stephen Baumann at sbaumann@sun-herald.com.
By STEPHEN BAUMANN
Englewood Editor
Ellie