Backpacks bursting with gifts for troops

Items collected for wounded vets
By Sharon A. Heilbrunn
UNION-TRIBUNE

March 1, 2008

EL CAJON – Andrea Stone's tennis shoes have wheels. And the 35-year-old needed them as she rolled from one crisis to the next in the El Cajon Veterans of Foreign Wars post.

“More toothbrushes over here,” she called. “And we need to bring in the magazines!”

Stone is executive officer of the Rescue Task Force organization, a nonprofit group with a mission to alleviate suffering and provide aid to those in need. She bought the wheeled sneakers, called Heelys, as a Christmas present for herself last year. They came in handy Tuesday as she directed the efforts of nearly 30 volunteers creating recovery backpacks for wounded military men and women.

The 80 backpacks, valued at $600 each, are stuffed with items including pens, magazines, journals, playing cards, a CD player, Nintendo DS, watch, electric shaver, gift certificates, flip-flops, sweats, shorts, socks and a shaving bag.

Every severely wounded inpatient soldier, Marine, airman and sailor at San Diego Naval Medical Center in Balboa Park has received a backpack, Stone said. Tuesday's efforts will ensure that every wounded patient at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, National Naval Medical Center in Maryland, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., is given a pack.

The remaining backpacks will be stockpiled at the hospitals for troops as they arrive, Stone said.

“The first thing they will get, after they are stabilized, is a backpack,” she said. “It's Christmas the minute they get it.”

Stone first thought of the backpacks after asking wounded soldiers in San Diego what they needed.

Their reply?

A T-shirt and socks.

Stone looked at the service members, many of whom are young amputees or burn victims, and felt the need to do more. She put together a $400 care backpack and took it to the hospital, asking the men and women for input.

A CD player would be great, they told her. Video games would help pass the time. They were cold, so could she include sweats? And sometimes, late at night, they wanted to grab a bite to eat. Flip-flops would allow them to easily maneuver.

Stone knew that if she included all those items, the price would skyrocket. In an effort to get donations, she spread the word about the backpacks, and a notice was printed in the company newsletter of The Associated General Contractors of America.

Donations flooded in. The contractors were able to raise $50,000 to cover the cost of building these 80 backpacks.

Ten volunteers did the shopping, making sure all the items were alike. To find 58 plastic soap holders, volunteer Jennifer Simmonson went to two Walgreens, three CVS stores, four Rite Aid stores and a Longs Drugs.

“Our Rotary club – La Jolla New Generations Rotary – finished half of the shopping in about four days,” Simmonson said as she helped unpack boxes.

Like a symphony director, Stone instructed the assembly-line process at the VFW this week, moving from station to station until everyone knew his or her role. Volunteers, friendly and spirited, got right to work. Boxes were brought in, contents unpacked and organized on tables. Around the room, people quietly counted.

“Pencils, pens, playing cards,” one volunteer murmured before zipping up a pocket and passing the pack to the next station.

To date, the Rescue Task Force has built 351 backpacks with help from corporate supporters and individual donors. In a thank-you letter, Gina Hill wrote about her husband, who arrived at Walter Reed with nothing.

“Receiving a bag such as the one you sent, helped him feel as if he actually had something he could call his own,” Hill wrote.

The Rescue Task Force aims to continue making 60 to 95 packs a month.

“This is the least we can do,” said volunteer Cindy Schwarz. “There's no better cause.”

Sharon Heilbrunn: (619) 593-4957; sharon.heilbrunn@uniontrib.com

Ellie