thedrifter
03-28-08, 07:03 AM
OCEANSIDE: Volunteer keeps Marines supplied with care packages
By By TOM MORROW -- For the North County Times
OCEANSIDE ---- Two years ago, Oceanside's Sandee Murphy learned Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan were in need of personal items they couldn't get in remote areas. A friend suggested to her the Elks Lodge might be able to help.
"She told me, 'If you want to join an organization that does good things for the community and our military, you want to be an Elk,' " Murphy said.
Murphy immediately joined Oceanside's Elks Lodge No. 1561 and set out to be a one-woman dynamo, collecting needed items for deployed troops.
While Murphy has a lot of help from various quarters, she mostly works be herself to assemble the 27- to 30-pound boxes filled with items for 50 Marines.
Over the past two years Murphy and the Elks Lodge have shipped hundreds of boxes filled with hard-to-get items for deployed troops stationed in the middle of the desert or mountains.
"It's amazing what our young men and women on deployment need and can't get," she said. "We send them a 1-cubic-foot box filled with 50 baggies" that contain about six or seven items. Those items include things such as safety pins, socks, travel-sized lotion and shampoo, beef jerky, corn nuts, eye drops, lip balm, cookies, candy, playing cards and T-shirts.
Murphy says she packs each box as tight as she can, adding a number of other requested items along the sides for all the Marines to share. Those items are often things such as duct tape, electrical tape, bug spray, fly swatters and sunflower seeds. She said probably one of the most requested items is Top Ramin noodle packages.
"Those things (Top Ramin) are virtually indestructible," she laughed. "If they get crushed, they'll still cook up and taste good ---- at least a bit like home."
Murphy spends most of her week going around asking businesses for donations for the packages. She goes to fast-food restaurants for packets of salsa, hot sauce, catsup and mustard ---- things not readily available to troops stationed in remote areas.
A food bank in Temecula has donated food by the truckload to the Elks' project.
In each box she ships off to the Marines, Murphy encloses a letter of greeting from the Elks Lodge, plus a note with her e-mail address.
"I get e-mails almost every week telling me how much these boxes are appreciated," she said.
A chaplain's assistant at Camp Liberty in Iraq wrote: "We have received many packages from you and just wanted to let you know how much we appreciate your support."
Most Elks Lodge members are veterans of World War II and Korean War, and they feel a special affinity for the troops of today.
"These packages are our door into these young people," Murphy said. "They're going to remember when they received these packages and where they come from.
Maybe some of them will join us when the get back," she added
Murphy said each care box costs around $25, which the Elks Lodge pays for through donations or out of the organization's treasury.
"A lot of our members simply dig into their own pockets to pay for the postage," she said.
All packages go to a Fleet Post Office address, so neither Murphy nor the lodge knows where the Marines are actually located in Iraq or Afghanistan.
For those wanting to help the Elks with their care package project, call Murphy at (760) 805-9630, or e-mail her at sandeem1@cox.net
Contact Tom Morrow at: quotetaker@cox.net.
Ellie
By By TOM MORROW -- For the North County Times
OCEANSIDE ---- Two years ago, Oceanside's Sandee Murphy learned Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan were in need of personal items they couldn't get in remote areas. A friend suggested to her the Elks Lodge might be able to help.
"She told me, 'If you want to join an organization that does good things for the community and our military, you want to be an Elk,' " Murphy said.
Murphy immediately joined Oceanside's Elks Lodge No. 1561 and set out to be a one-woman dynamo, collecting needed items for deployed troops.
While Murphy has a lot of help from various quarters, she mostly works be herself to assemble the 27- to 30-pound boxes filled with items for 50 Marines.
Over the past two years Murphy and the Elks Lodge have shipped hundreds of boxes filled with hard-to-get items for deployed troops stationed in the middle of the desert or mountains.
"It's amazing what our young men and women on deployment need and can't get," she said. "We send them a 1-cubic-foot box filled with 50 baggies" that contain about six or seven items. Those items include things such as safety pins, socks, travel-sized lotion and shampoo, beef jerky, corn nuts, eye drops, lip balm, cookies, candy, playing cards and T-shirts.
Murphy says she packs each box as tight as she can, adding a number of other requested items along the sides for all the Marines to share. Those items are often things such as duct tape, electrical tape, bug spray, fly swatters and sunflower seeds. She said probably one of the most requested items is Top Ramin noodle packages.
"Those things (Top Ramin) are virtually indestructible," she laughed. "If they get crushed, they'll still cook up and taste good ---- at least a bit like home."
Murphy spends most of her week going around asking businesses for donations for the packages. She goes to fast-food restaurants for packets of salsa, hot sauce, catsup and mustard ---- things not readily available to troops stationed in remote areas.
A food bank in Temecula has donated food by the truckload to the Elks' project.
In each box she ships off to the Marines, Murphy encloses a letter of greeting from the Elks Lodge, plus a note with her e-mail address.
"I get e-mails almost every week telling me how much these boxes are appreciated," she said.
A chaplain's assistant at Camp Liberty in Iraq wrote: "We have received many packages from you and just wanted to let you know how much we appreciate your support."
Most Elks Lodge members are veterans of World War II and Korean War, and they feel a special affinity for the troops of today.
"These packages are our door into these young people," Murphy said. "They're going to remember when they received these packages and where they come from.
Maybe some of them will join us when the get back," she added
Murphy said each care box costs around $25, which the Elks Lodge pays for through donations or out of the organization's treasury.
"A lot of our members simply dig into their own pockets to pay for the postage," she said.
All packages go to a Fleet Post Office address, so neither Murphy nor the lodge knows where the Marines are actually located in Iraq or Afghanistan.
For those wanting to help the Elks with their care package project, call Murphy at (760) 805-9630, or e-mail her at sandeem1@cox.net
Contact Tom Morrow at: quotetaker@cox.net.
Ellie