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thedrifter
11-23-07, 08:24 PM
Marines spend Black Friday stuffing stockings

Mike Walbert
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 23, 2007 12:51 PM

While Black Friday buying fever hit all corners of the Valley, about 20 Marines and volunteers were hunkered down Friday morning in the basement of a Southeast Valley home, doing their own Christmas preparations.

The gathering was part of Operation Stocking Stuffer, a Gilbert-based non-profit that has been sending Christmas stockings to Marines stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2004.

"Everybody needs to show support for the troops," said Mesa resident Leann Robbins as she packed up soap, toothpaste, applesauce, chewing gum, crackers and letters of support
from schoolchildren, among other items, into a homemade Christmas stocking.

Last Christmas, Operation Stocking Stuffer shipped out 1,400 stockings overseas and this year's targeted goal is 1,500.

Sgt. Zach Sutton, 23, and nearly a dozen other Marines were lending a hand Friday morning while on leave for the Thanksgiving holiday.

It's gratifying, he said, to put the items together for fellow Marines.

"People have given to me when I was over there," said Sutton, who has been deployed to Iraq three times.

Julie Ann Ivanov started Operation Stocking Stuffer four years ago. She and her husband, Pavel, have two sons, 23-year-old Kristopher and 20-year-old Zachary, who are in the Marines, but not currently deployed overseas.

The Ivanovs' Gilbert home is headquarters for the packing operation. Canned goods, socks, candy, stockings and boxes fill up their basement, which is where all the packing takes place.

It can be tiring work, but the Ivanovs said their effort receives tremendous support from the community and businesses. And the letters and e-mails they receive from troops are cherished.

One day, Julie Ann Ivanov hopes to fly overseas and present the Christmas stockings to Marines in-person.

"That would be my dream," she said. "And then I can give them big hugs."

Reach the reporter at mike.walbert@arizonarepublic.com.

Ellie