BY MATT MILNER Courier staff writer
April 06, 2008 10:56 pm
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OTTUMWA — Walter B. Schafer Post No. 775 resembled nothing on Saturday so much as a home whose family was in the midst of moving.
Boxes were everywhere. Piles of supplies scattered across a half-dozen tables. Deodorant, candy, microwave popcorn, paperback books, batteries, sunscreen, razors, pencils, paper, pens and silly string, all bound for soldiers in the 833rd Engineer Company in Iraq.
Silly string?
Kathy Harding had the explanation. Silly string is light and projects across a considerable distance. And it can hang onto anything. That makes it a good tool for finding traps.
“What they do is they squirt that when they go into a building to see if there are any wires,” she said.
So silly string went into the boxes as well. This is the second time the Ottumwa VFW has sent packages to the soldiers in one form or another. The first shipment went out courtesy of the girls’ junior unit. Members of the auxiliary put this one together with help from just about everyone. President Becky Thompson said the auxiliary wanted to help, and they pulled together donations from the public, the VFW post and some area companies.
“We just went from there,” Thompson said.
Saturday’s packing came just a day after family members whose soldiers are with the 833rd spoke at Indian Hills Community College during the annual diversity conference. One of their main points was how crucial community support is for both the soldiers and the families they leave in Iowa.
The timing was a coincidence, but it underscored why the VFW auxiliary was so intent on sending the packages. They know it makes a difference to the soldiers who receive them.
Security concerns have changed things, though. There was a time when sending packages was as simple as addressing it to “Any Soldier.” Now, if you don’t have a name, the package isn’t going to get through.
That caused some additional complications for this round of care packages. The auxiliary wanted to send packages to the soldiers who work for Pella Corp. They asked the company for the soldiers’ names and were rebuffed. The company didn’t feel it could give out that information, but it also wanted to show it supported the soldiers. So the two sides worked out a deal: The auxiliary prepared the packages, which then went to the company. Pella Corp. then sent the packages to their employees.
The extra step takes a little longer, but it also means the auxiliary has a little more money to send out other packages. They used flat rate boxes from the post office, but it still isn’t cheap to ship all those packages overseas.
Money isn’t the point, though. Never has been.
Matt Milner can be reached at (641) 683-5359 or via e-mail at mwmilner@mchsi.com
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