thedrifter
11-20-07, 04:09 AM
Area women develop networks to sustain troops’ morale
Care packages maintain a link to troops in Iraq
By Elmer Ploetz
Updated: 11/18/07 9:13 AM
After Matthew McGirr was sent to Iraq, he wrote his mother, Mary Eileen, back in Orchard Park that there were two things he and his fellow Marines could use: “White socks and hot sauce.”
So Mary Eileen McGirr went to work, starting “Operation Boots on the Ground” at Canisius High School, Matthew’s alma mater. She first collected more than 400 pairs of socks. And then she collected 4,000 packets of hot sauce from the local Taco Bell headquarters.
And she sent them to Iraq. She has also sent some Swedish fish candies.
“That’s just some silly stuff I’m doing to break up their day, to make them laugh, for them just to have something to do,” said McGirr.
Mary Eileen McGirr is one of several area women who have taken their role as mothers to another level, taking care of their children — and their children’s fellow soldiers — from across the world.
Some, like McGirr, work mostly alone.
Others, like several of the women in Beth Walsh’s group at the East Aurora American Legion post, work together.
“It is definitely a network; one mother helping another,”
Walsh said.
She said the effort started with just her and another mother.
“It was kind of a way for us to comfort each other and support our families, and then everyone wanted to get involved,” said Walsh, one of the Aurora group. “So it just grew into a situation where . . . it makes you feel good if you do this.”
Legion enters the field
Walsh had started making cookies and sending them and other supplies overseas to those in the military on her own before being invited to lead the Legion group.
Dee Zeigel of Wales leads her own “Operation Prayers and Cookies.” She doesn’t have a child in the military, but tries to send monthly packages to the soldiers from Wales.
It started out on Veteran’s Day in 2006 when Zeigel asked a young man headed for Iraq what she could do for him and he responded, “pray for us . . . and a few of these homemade chocolate chip cookies would be great, too.”
Now other Wales residents and church groups bake cookies along with her and about 16 to 20 dozen are shipped to each Wales soldier, enough to share with everyone in their unit.
That’s something most of the care packages have in common. They contain enough to share.
“The thing that always haunted me was a lot of kids go over there and they never hear from family,”Walsh said. “They don’t get letters, they don’t get boxes. So my son would share.”
The packages also have to be addressed to specific soldiers. The Department of Defense canceled the generic “any servicemember” and “Operation Dear Abby” programs several years ago as a security measure, although the nonprofit anysoldier. com has found a way around that by providing a list of service members to send to.
There are other groups that provide similar services, but nationally the projects frequently grow out of grass-roots efforts.
Walsh’s group and Zeigel collect the names of local soldiers to send to. What used to take a month to arrive can get there as quickly as three days to a week now.
AMVETS pitches in
There had been a large-scale mailing program coordinated by the “Military Mom” organization based in Lockport not long after the Iraq invasion, but that hasn’t been active in the last couple of years.
Schools and churches have occasional drives to gather materials to send overseas.
But people like Zeigel and groups like the East Aurora Legion women have taken it upon themselves to do it every month.
Cookies are popular, particularly chocolate chip and all of the Girl Scout varieties — even if they arrive in pieces.
Christmas cards they can send home to their families are popular too, as are little items like wet wipes and shampoo.
McGirr, whose son is a captain and leads a group of 130 Marines serving under him, said she discovered another need.
“Their uniforms are just sopping wet and salty,” she said. “You know how they’re sweating and everything — their bedding — is hard. So I thought, ‘What could I do to send these guys something?’ I figured why don’t I send pillowcases?”
So she worked with the AMVETS women in Cheektowaga to collect pillowcases.
She wound up with a mixed variety — including some “Blue’s Clues” and flowered covers — that she washed three times and hit with some fabric softener.
McGirr sent them with a note reading, “Here’s a little bit of home and maybe you’ll have sweet dreams for one night.”
One of the hallmarks of the senders is they tend to communicate and collaborate.
Zeigel collected at the Erie County Fair and promised the East Aurora group a truck full of goods to fill their boxes. She delivered — a large truck full.
Casualty reports hurt
The moms have scrapbooks filled with post cards and thank you notes from soldiers. Some have sent pictures of their children.
But the news isn’t always good.
“One of my boys was hit; his family called me,” Zeigel said after one of the Wales soldiers was wounded a few weeks ago. “He was hit by a mortar. This takes the wind out of my sails and you go down on your knees.”
Some of the women are helping because their children are in the war zones. Others simply because there are somebody else’s children in the war zone.
McGirr’s son’s company is home now, so she’s on the inactive list as a sender.
Walsh’s son is out of the military, and she’s still coordinating her team’s efforts, sending out links to home with every package.
“Whether we birthed them or not, they’re still our kids,” she said. “We have to let them know that.”
News Suburban CorrespondentNancy Gish contributed to this report. eploetz@buffnews.com
Ellie
Care packages maintain a link to troops in Iraq
By Elmer Ploetz
Updated: 11/18/07 9:13 AM
After Matthew McGirr was sent to Iraq, he wrote his mother, Mary Eileen, back in Orchard Park that there were two things he and his fellow Marines could use: “White socks and hot sauce.”
So Mary Eileen McGirr went to work, starting “Operation Boots on the Ground” at Canisius High School, Matthew’s alma mater. She first collected more than 400 pairs of socks. And then she collected 4,000 packets of hot sauce from the local Taco Bell headquarters.
And she sent them to Iraq. She has also sent some Swedish fish candies.
“That’s just some silly stuff I’m doing to break up their day, to make them laugh, for them just to have something to do,” said McGirr.
Mary Eileen McGirr is one of several area women who have taken their role as mothers to another level, taking care of their children — and their children’s fellow soldiers — from across the world.
Some, like McGirr, work mostly alone.
Others, like several of the women in Beth Walsh’s group at the East Aurora American Legion post, work together.
“It is definitely a network; one mother helping another,”
Walsh said.
She said the effort started with just her and another mother.
“It was kind of a way for us to comfort each other and support our families, and then everyone wanted to get involved,” said Walsh, one of the Aurora group. “So it just grew into a situation where . . . it makes you feel good if you do this.”
Legion enters the field
Walsh had started making cookies and sending them and other supplies overseas to those in the military on her own before being invited to lead the Legion group.
Dee Zeigel of Wales leads her own “Operation Prayers and Cookies.” She doesn’t have a child in the military, but tries to send monthly packages to the soldiers from Wales.
It started out on Veteran’s Day in 2006 when Zeigel asked a young man headed for Iraq what she could do for him and he responded, “pray for us . . . and a few of these homemade chocolate chip cookies would be great, too.”
Now other Wales residents and church groups bake cookies along with her and about 16 to 20 dozen are shipped to each Wales soldier, enough to share with everyone in their unit.
That’s something most of the care packages have in common. They contain enough to share.
“The thing that always haunted me was a lot of kids go over there and they never hear from family,”Walsh said. “They don’t get letters, they don’t get boxes. So my son would share.”
The packages also have to be addressed to specific soldiers. The Department of Defense canceled the generic “any servicemember” and “Operation Dear Abby” programs several years ago as a security measure, although the nonprofit anysoldier. com has found a way around that by providing a list of service members to send to.
There are other groups that provide similar services, but nationally the projects frequently grow out of grass-roots efforts.
Walsh’s group and Zeigel collect the names of local soldiers to send to. What used to take a month to arrive can get there as quickly as three days to a week now.
AMVETS pitches in
There had been a large-scale mailing program coordinated by the “Military Mom” organization based in Lockport not long after the Iraq invasion, but that hasn’t been active in the last couple of years.
Schools and churches have occasional drives to gather materials to send overseas.
But people like Zeigel and groups like the East Aurora Legion women have taken it upon themselves to do it every month.
Cookies are popular, particularly chocolate chip and all of the Girl Scout varieties — even if they arrive in pieces.
Christmas cards they can send home to their families are popular too, as are little items like wet wipes and shampoo.
McGirr, whose son is a captain and leads a group of 130 Marines serving under him, said she discovered another need.
“Their uniforms are just sopping wet and salty,” she said. “You know how they’re sweating and everything — their bedding — is hard. So I thought, ‘What could I do to send these guys something?’ I figured why don’t I send pillowcases?”
So she worked with the AMVETS women in Cheektowaga to collect pillowcases.
She wound up with a mixed variety — including some “Blue’s Clues” and flowered covers — that she washed three times and hit with some fabric softener.
McGirr sent them with a note reading, “Here’s a little bit of home and maybe you’ll have sweet dreams for one night.”
One of the hallmarks of the senders is they tend to communicate and collaborate.
Zeigel collected at the Erie County Fair and promised the East Aurora group a truck full of goods to fill their boxes. She delivered — a large truck full.
Casualty reports hurt
The moms have scrapbooks filled with post cards and thank you notes from soldiers. Some have sent pictures of their children.
But the news isn’t always good.
“One of my boys was hit; his family called me,” Zeigel said after one of the Wales soldiers was wounded a few weeks ago. “He was hit by a mortar. This takes the wind out of my sails and you go down on your knees.”
Some of the women are helping because their children are in the war zones. Others simply because there are somebody else’s children in the war zone.
McGirr’s son’s company is home now, so she’s on the inactive list as a sender.
Walsh’s son is out of the military, and she’s still coordinating her team’s efforts, sending out links to home with every package.
“Whether we birthed them or not, they’re still our kids,” she said. “We have to let them know that.”
News Suburban CorrespondentNancy Gish contributed to this report. eploetz@buffnews.com
Ellie