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thedrifter
04-15-07, 06:38 AM
Marines to get thanks in cards
Keith Matheny
The Desert Sun
April 15, 2007
When 128 Marines return from Iraq early next month they'll have more than loved ones waiting for them, thanks to a local charitable group.

Women Working Wonders is sponsoring a drive to purchase gift cards for the men and women of Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, who are scheduled to return to Twentynine Palms May 6 from a tour of duty in Iraq.

The Cathedral City Stater Brothers store at the corner of Ramon Road and Date Palm Drive is participating in the effort. Customers are urged to purchase any of the various gift cards offered at the supermarket - from home improvement, clothing and book stores to hotels, coffee shops, movie theaters and more. The cards can be in any denomination from $10 to $100.

Customers can then drop the gift cards in lock-boxes at the end of the store's checkout counters. If a customer includes their name, address and receipt, they can receive documentation to make the donation tax-deductible, said Buffy Schulze, a member of Women Working Wonders.

"This will be a great way to say, 'Welcome home,'" she said.

Stater Brothers store manager Mark Thomas said he was more than happy to help the cause. He's also a military veteran who served in Honduras in the 1980s, he said.

"I know what it is to serve overseas," he said. "What a neat thing to have this support on the home-front."

Customers can make the gift card donations at the Cathedral City Stater Brothers until May 1. A group from Women Working Wonders will then put the cards into care packages and give them to the returning Marines at their Twentynine Palms homecoming, Schulze said.

Cards of caring
Women Working Wonders, a local charitable organization, is teaming with the Cathedral City Stater Brothers supermarket at Ramon Road and Date Palm Drive to collect gift cards to distribute to Marines returning May 6 from a tour of duty in Iraq.

Here's how to help:
Buy one or more of the dozens of different kinds of gift cards available at Stater Brothers, in a denomination between $10 and $100.
Drop the cards in a lock-box at the end of the checkout counters at Stater Brothers between now and May 1. If you include your name and address and store receipt, the donation can be made tax-deductible.
Volunteers will collect the donated gift cards and include them in care packages for distribution to the returning Marines at their May 6 homecoming at the base in Twentynine Palms.

Ellie