thedrifter
12-28-07, 07:33 AM
Troops express thanks for packages
SUZANNE ULBRICH
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Sometimes the best Christmas gifts of all arrive after Christmas.
Britt Motorsports started its own Operation Care Package effort to provide some Christmas cheer and much needed supplies to troops in the Middle East for Christmas.
Since Christmas, they have been receiving gifts of thanks by way of e-mails from cheerful, thankful Camp Lejeune Marines and Fort Bragg soldiers who opened boxes of goodies Christmas Day, and could not wait to e-mail them to tell them how much the cards, supplies and treats meant to them. Some even sent pictures.
"Operation Care Package was a great success today!" 82nd Airborne Division Capt. Brian Easley wrote. "The attached picture (showing) 'Britt Banner' is terrific. The greatest gift you brought us is evident in this picture ... in all the big, bright smiles. Next week, we'll have been in Iraq for a year, and have three more months to go; it is hard to keep morale high, but today, for just a little bit, the entire group was beaming."
Easley said that the battalion Christmas party included about 400 paratroopers assigned to the 407th Brigade Support Battalion commanded by Lt. Col. Thomas Rogers.
One of their missions was to help build a three-mile protective wall on the dividing line between a Sunni enclave in East Baghdad and surrounding Shiite neighborhoods each night under the cover of darkness.
Caroline Watkins, who heads up Britt's advertising department and helped organize and garner corporate donations for Britt's Operation Care Package said they were able to send seven large boxes, almost 70 pounds each, to the paratroopers in Baghdad, nine similar boxes to Camp Lejeune Marines in Baghdad and 11 boxes to Camp Lejeune Marines in Fallujah.
The overseas care packages filled with cards, T-shirts, socks, phone cards, magazines, books, CDs, DVDs, hygiene products and more treats helped brighten the holiday and improve morale for those who received them.
"It was really a great finale to our battalion Christmas party," Maj. Miles Townsend wrote. "The notes of encouragement meant the most, though the shirts, DVD's and goodies are hard to beat ...."
"I wanted to thank you and all the people involved in sending us the care packages," Specialist Roxanne Bonilla wrote. "I cannot tell you how much it means to me and my fellow paratroopers to know that people back home are thinking about us, especially during the holiday season."
"Just wanted to let you all know how much we all loved the great loot that was sent to us here in Iraq," Sgt. 1st Class Mary Hampton wrote. "It truly made our Christmas day better. ... Thanks again for all your support!"
There were about 300 personalized Christmas cards made by elementary school children from Wrightsboro, Burgaw and Waccamaw Academy. Britt employees put a Christmas card inside each individualized package with a T-shirt, two pairs of socks, a toothbrush and phone card. Additional boxes filled to the 70-pound capacity, many from corporate donations received, had additional goodies.
Britt hosted a fundraising motorcycle ride in early November that included a stop aboard Camp Lejeune and included a victory lap around the John A. Lejeune statue to raise money for the project and was able to purchase 200 phone cards with the money they raised through the event.
Master Sgt. Paul Phelps, a Camp Lejeune Marine serving in Baghdad, wrote Watkins and said there were soldiers, sailors, airmen and even a couple of civilians who benefited by the packages.
"Wow! Mission accomplished and very successful!" Phelps wrote. "Everything has been passed out on my end, and please pass on to everyone that was involved how thankful we all are and that their support means the world to us.
"I spoke with (Master Gunnery Sgt.) Robinson in Fallujah today. He is putting out a box or two a day for the Marines in Fallujah. They already hung the banner you sent. (Each of the three large banners read, "Home of the free, Because of the Brave, Britt Salutes Our Troops.") I plan to get a few of us together here at the palace to hold the banner in front of the Christmas tree, we'll get a couple of pictures and send them back to you."
"These guys and gals are heroes, and we wanted to take some part of Christmas to them and let the troops know we care about them," Scott Britt, owner of Britt Motorsports said. "We truly believe in the saying, "The land of the free because of the brave."
Contact Topsail area reporter Suzanne Ulbrich at sulbrich@freedomenc.com or 910-328-3033. Visit www.jdnews.com to comment on this report.
Ellie
SUZANNE ULBRICH
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Sometimes the best Christmas gifts of all arrive after Christmas.
Britt Motorsports started its own Operation Care Package effort to provide some Christmas cheer and much needed supplies to troops in the Middle East for Christmas.
Since Christmas, they have been receiving gifts of thanks by way of e-mails from cheerful, thankful Camp Lejeune Marines and Fort Bragg soldiers who opened boxes of goodies Christmas Day, and could not wait to e-mail them to tell them how much the cards, supplies and treats meant to them. Some even sent pictures.
"Operation Care Package was a great success today!" 82nd Airborne Division Capt. Brian Easley wrote. "The attached picture (showing) 'Britt Banner' is terrific. The greatest gift you brought us is evident in this picture ... in all the big, bright smiles. Next week, we'll have been in Iraq for a year, and have three more months to go; it is hard to keep morale high, but today, for just a little bit, the entire group was beaming."
Easley said that the battalion Christmas party included about 400 paratroopers assigned to the 407th Brigade Support Battalion commanded by Lt. Col. Thomas Rogers.
One of their missions was to help build a three-mile protective wall on the dividing line between a Sunni enclave in East Baghdad and surrounding Shiite neighborhoods each night under the cover of darkness.
Caroline Watkins, who heads up Britt's advertising department and helped organize and garner corporate donations for Britt's Operation Care Package said they were able to send seven large boxes, almost 70 pounds each, to the paratroopers in Baghdad, nine similar boxes to Camp Lejeune Marines in Baghdad and 11 boxes to Camp Lejeune Marines in Fallujah.
The overseas care packages filled with cards, T-shirts, socks, phone cards, magazines, books, CDs, DVDs, hygiene products and more treats helped brighten the holiday and improve morale for those who received them.
"It was really a great finale to our battalion Christmas party," Maj. Miles Townsend wrote. "The notes of encouragement meant the most, though the shirts, DVD's and goodies are hard to beat ...."
"I wanted to thank you and all the people involved in sending us the care packages," Specialist Roxanne Bonilla wrote. "I cannot tell you how much it means to me and my fellow paratroopers to know that people back home are thinking about us, especially during the holiday season."
"Just wanted to let you all know how much we all loved the great loot that was sent to us here in Iraq," Sgt. 1st Class Mary Hampton wrote. "It truly made our Christmas day better. ... Thanks again for all your support!"
There were about 300 personalized Christmas cards made by elementary school children from Wrightsboro, Burgaw and Waccamaw Academy. Britt employees put a Christmas card inside each individualized package with a T-shirt, two pairs of socks, a toothbrush and phone card. Additional boxes filled to the 70-pound capacity, many from corporate donations received, had additional goodies.
Britt hosted a fundraising motorcycle ride in early November that included a stop aboard Camp Lejeune and included a victory lap around the John A. Lejeune statue to raise money for the project and was able to purchase 200 phone cards with the money they raised through the event.
Master Sgt. Paul Phelps, a Camp Lejeune Marine serving in Baghdad, wrote Watkins and said there were soldiers, sailors, airmen and even a couple of civilians who benefited by the packages.
"Wow! Mission accomplished and very successful!" Phelps wrote. "Everything has been passed out on my end, and please pass on to everyone that was involved how thankful we all are and that their support means the world to us.
"I spoke with (Master Gunnery Sgt.) Robinson in Fallujah today. He is putting out a box or two a day for the Marines in Fallujah. They already hung the banner you sent. (Each of the three large banners read, "Home of the free, Because of the Brave, Britt Salutes Our Troops.") I plan to get a few of us together here at the palace to hold the banner in front of the Christmas tree, we'll get a couple of pictures and send them back to you."
"These guys and gals are heroes, and we wanted to take some part of Christmas to them and let the troops know we care about them," Scott Britt, owner of Britt Motorsports said. "We truly believe in the saying, "The land of the free because of the brave."
Contact Topsail area reporter Suzanne Ulbrich at sulbrich@freedomenc.com or 910-328-3033. Visit www.jdnews.com to comment on this report.
Ellie