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thedrifter
01-06-07, 08:01 AM
Local Marines Send Medical Supplies To Iraq

January 5, 2007

GRAND RAPIDS — More than two hundred boxes filled the auditorium of the Marine Reserve Center of Grand Rapids today.

Each box was filled with the most basic medical supplies that no hospital should be without. That is why they are sending them overseas to a hospital in Iraq that is in desperate need.

"It's amazing the shortage of medical supplies that this hospital has to try and go day to day and things they go without... that we take for granted," said LtCol. Joe Rossi.

The call for help came from Major Dan Whisnant, the commanding officer of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines, who works at Stryker in Kalamazoo when he is off duty. So when he arrived in Iraq, he knew the hospitals were in desperate need.

"He is a marine's marine who knows very well how to accomplish the mission in Iraq .... and he recognizes that part of that is building a relationship with the community they operate in," said Rossi.

So, the Marine Corp League of Michigan stepped in, collecting donations from families, churches, and businesses all over west michigan.

But the most expensive part of the mission was the shipping. The ten thousand dollar price tag was completely covered by generous donors.

"The benefit outweighs the costs because the person who donated the money obviously thought that way too," said volunteer coordinator Sue Szymanski.

"I think it's giving the Iraqi people the idea that we all care," she said.

Ellie

thedrifter
01-06-07, 08:50 AM
Aid drive nets supplies for Iraq
Saturday, January 06, 2007
By Ted Roelofs
The Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS -- A trip through a run-down hospital in Fallujah was enough to convince Marine Corps Maj. Dan Whisnant to open another front in the war in Iraq.

Whisnant, who commands a Grand Rapids-based Marine Reserve company in Anbar province in Iraq, decided to organize aid for that and other hospitals in the troubled region north and west of Baghdad.

The result: Volunteers and Marines loaded about 200 boxes of basic medical supplies into a van Friday and shipped them out for hospitals where even bandages and bedpans can be in short supply.

"It means a lot to me," said Sgt. Donald Karn, 29, of Holland, taking a break from loading the van at the Marine Corps Training Center in Grand Rapids.

"I know how hard the Marines are working over there. It's the least I can do. I just wish I could be over there with them."

According to Lt. Col. Joseph Rossi, hundreds of people contributed to the effort, including businesses, medical supply companies, churches -- more people than he could name. The boxes also included basic school supplies, such as pencils, notebooks, markers and books.

Rossi singled out Evergreen Ministries in Hudsonville and an organization called Employers Support of the Guard and Reserve, which formed to support Reserve members and their families.

"It has been a lot of effort on the part of a lot of individuals. It has literally come from hundreds of people from all around the area," Rossi said.

The cardboard boxes included everything from latex gloves to surgical sponges.

Much of the donated supplies came from Cardinal Health, a national health-care supplier, Rossi said.

In other cases, local individuals stepped forward to buy the supplies.

"They are short of everything," Whisnant said in a statement released by his unit. Whisnant, a Kalamazoo resident, manages medical trials for Stryker Corp. in civilian life.

Approximately 150 Marine Reserves from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines Regiment, arrived in Iraq in early October for combat duty patrolling the roads outside Fallujah. Eleven Marines from the battalion have died in Iraq since their arrival in the region, center of a Sunni-based insurgency.

Tim Szymanski, 18, of Grandville, helped load the boxes and drive the van to the downtown branch of the Grand Rapids post office. His older brother, Cpl. Rick Szymanski, is among those in the Grand Rapids-based unit.

"Some people agree with the war. Some don't. Either way, it's family over there. I'm sure they need it," he said.

Jodi Cole-Meyer, director of outreach for Evergreen Ministries, said she sent out a single e-mail asking church members if they wanted to help. Not long after, the church had enough school and medical supplies, purchased by church members, to fill three pallets.

"When our Marines can hand out those sorts of things, it wins the hearts and minds. It's all one package," Cole-Meyer said.

Send e-mail to the author: troelofs@grpress.com

Ellie