thedrifter
12-17-06, 10:00 AM
‘Our Marine’ inspires drive
By REGAN FOSTER - rfoster@nwherald.com
CRYSTAL LAKE – Maggie Pierson refers to her future brother-in-law, U.S. Marine Cpl. Trevor Prather, as “our Marine.”
By “our,” she means that he belongs to her family of six. But after a two-week campaign to collect items and letters for Prather and other Marines in Iraq yielded about 30 boxes’ worth of care packages, her classmates at Prairie Grove Junior High School could claim Prather as “our Marine,” too.
“We send Trevor so many things,” Pierson said. “We told him to send us names and stuff so we’d have more people to send to.”
Prather has been stationed north of Baghdad since September, and he asked Maggie and her mother, Cathy Pierson, whether they would mind if he shared items from the care packages he frequently received with members of his battalion who received nothing.
And that gave Maggie Pierson, 11, an idea.
In October, the sixth-grader approached Prairie Grove Junior High School Principal Greg Urbaniak with the idea of having her peers and classmates donate small items or write letters that could be sent to troops overseas.
The school had just completed a successful fundraiser for Children’s Hospital in Peoria, Urbaniak said.
Urbaniak was quick to support a project that would continue to encourage giving.
“She came to me with a couple of friends and asked to continue with the benevolence,” Urbaniak said. “It was great ... a wonderful idea.”
Pierson posted signs, and the school made announcements asking students to participate. The sixth-grader dubbed her effort “Operation No Worries,” in honor of Prather’s signature sign-off when he e-mails family members.
“Every letter he sends, he signs ‘no worries’ because he knows he’ll be coming back,” Pierson explained.
In two weeks of donations, students brought in enough hand-held games; canned food items; personal-care items such as shampoo and conditioner; and books, magazines and notes to fill 30 boxes. Cathy Pierson and her husband, Gary, volunteered to pay the shipping – bill that has cost more than $200.
Each box includes a letter from Maggie Pierson explaining the project and why the care packages are being sent. Two of her neighbors also have adopted Marines overseas, and her neighborhood off Orchard Lane near Crystal Lake is equally decorated with holiday lights and yellow ribbons of support.
The efforts have earned Maggie Pierson and her classmates a promised visit from her brother-in-law-to-be when he returns next spring. Prather also has promised to bring the Piersons an American flag that has flown in Iraq, Cathy Pierson said.
As Maggie and Cathy Pierson sat in their family’s comfortable dining room Thursday, sorting the final eight boxes to be sent, Maggie Pierson waxed poetic on what Operation No Worries has meant to her.
“It’s overwhelming that I helped all those people and I don’t even know them,” she said. “Everyone gets to benefit, not just me.”
Or, as Urbaniak put it: “One child set out to make a difference, and she did a great job of it.”
Ellie
By REGAN FOSTER - rfoster@nwherald.com
CRYSTAL LAKE – Maggie Pierson refers to her future brother-in-law, U.S. Marine Cpl. Trevor Prather, as “our Marine.”
By “our,” she means that he belongs to her family of six. But after a two-week campaign to collect items and letters for Prather and other Marines in Iraq yielded about 30 boxes’ worth of care packages, her classmates at Prairie Grove Junior High School could claim Prather as “our Marine,” too.
“We send Trevor so many things,” Pierson said. “We told him to send us names and stuff so we’d have more people to send to.”
Prather has been stationed north of Baghdad since September, and he asked Maggie and her mother, Cathy Pierson, whether they would mind if he shared items from the care packages he frequently received with members of his battalion who received nothing.
And that gave Maggie Pierson, 11, an idea.
In October, the sixth-grader approached Prairie Grove Junior High School Principal Greg Urbaniak with the idea of having her peers and classmates donate small items or write letters that could be sent to troops overseas.
The school had just completed a successful fundraiser for Children’s Hospital in Peoria, Urbaniak said.
Urbaniak was quick to support a project that would continue to encourage giving.
“She came to me with a couple of friends and asked to continue with the benevolence,” Urbaniak said. “It was great ... a wonderful idea.”
Pierson posted signs, and the school made announcements asking students to participate. The sixth-grader dubbed her effort “Operation No Worries,” in honor of Prather’s signature sign-off when he e-mails family members.
“Every letter he sends, he signs ‘no worries’ because he knows he’ll be coming back,” Pierson explained.
In two weeks of donations, students brought in enough hand-held games; canned food items; personal-care items such as shampoo and conditioner; and books, magazines and notes to fill 30 boxes. Cathy Pierson and her husband, Gary, volunteered to pay the shipping – bill that has cost more than $200.
Each box includes a letter from Maggie Pierson explaining the project and why the care packages are being sent. Two of her neighbors also have adopted Marines overseas, and her neighborhood off Orchard Lane near Crystal Lake is equally decorated with holiday lights and yellow ribbons of support.
The efforts have earned Maggie Pierson and her classmates a promised visit from her brother-in-law-to-be when he returns next spring. Prather also has promised to bring the Piersons an American flag that has flown in Iraq, Cathy Pierson said.
As Maggie and Cathy Pierson sat in their family’s comfortable dining room Thursday, sorting the final eight boxes to be sent, Maggie Pierson waxed poetic on what Operation No Worries has meant to her.
“It’s overwhelming that I helped all those people and I don’t even know them,” she said. “Everyone gets to benefit, not just me.”
Or, as Urbaniak put it: “One child set out to make a difference, and she did a great job of it.”
Ellie