By Sharon Omahen
University of Georgia
Soldiers in “Operation Iraqi Freedom” from Georgia’s Fort
Stewart
and Hunter Army Air Field will soon get shoe boxes from home
through the efforts of 4-H’ers in, interestingly enough, Liberty
County.
The shoe boxes are filled with much-needed personal care
items,
not shoes.
“Our soldiers have food and medical supplies,” said Denise
Everson, a University of Georgia Extension Service 4-H agent in
Liberty County and coordinator of the statewide project.
Soldiers need sunscreen, chapstick
“Those things are obviously government issued,” she said.
“What
they need are things like sunscreen, Chap Stick and toiletries
that most of us take for granted here at home.”
Everson has firsthand knowledge of what U.S. soldiers need.
Fort
Stewart is just a mile and a half from her office, and 75 percent
of her 4-H’ers have a parent in the military.
“We are a military community,” she said. “This project hit
close
to home for us and for our kids. We all know someone who is away
from home because of the war. For me, it’s my boss (Robert Bell,
UGA Extension agriculture agent AG AGENT OR COUNTY EXTENSION
COORDINATOR? in Liberty C county), who’s stationed at Fort
Stewart preparing reserve units for deployment to Iraq.”
She says local soldiers are sending stories home about how
“really, really cold; really, really sandy; and really, really
hot” the conditions are in Iraq.
“They’re also requesting soft bathroom tissue from home, which
is
a lot different from the government-issued tissue they get,”
Everson chuckled.
The soldiers also need handheld computer games and toiletries
like toothpaste, deodorant and soap.
“The computer games are to help them pass the downtime that we
don’t see on news coverage,” she said.
A community project that became a statewide
project
The shoe box project began in March as the Liberty County
4-H’ers
community service project for the month. Lori Purcell, program
development coordinator for Georgia’s Central District 4-H
Office, was instrumental in transforming the project into a
statewide 4-H project. As word of the project spread, students
from across the state joined in to collect boxes in their
counties, too.
On May 22, more than 400 shoe boxes were delivered to Fort
Stewart’s Army Community Services. And, over the past two months,
more than 2,000 individual items have been delivered to Army
Community Services and Southern Smiles, a nonprofit organization
in the Savannah, Ga., home of Hunter. Army Community Services and
Southern Smiles will make sure the boxes reach their intended
destination.
“The shoe boxes are the perfect size, as they can be put on
supply planes as there’s room, a few here and a few there,” said
Everson.”Medical and military supplies are obviously the top
priority. With this project, we know the boxes are going to get
to soldiers. And they’re our soldiers.”
It’s not too late to participate in the shoe box project. If
you
are interested, contact Everson at (912)876-2133. Or e-mail her
deverson@uga.edu.
“Most people are beginning to view the war as being over,”
Everson said. “In military communities like ours, we know the
reality.(The soldiers) are still on a peace-keeping mission, and
many will continue to be assigned to Iraq for the next five to 10
years.”
Everson said the first wave of soldiers are expected to return
to
Liberty County in late summer, although no official dates have
been announced at this time.
Next, Georgia’s middle school 4-H’ers plan to write letters to
Georgia soldiers.
“At our fall retreat, each 4-H’er will get a name of a soldier
to
write to,” Everson said.”And we know the soldiers will write back
and send pictures. Some soldiers never get mail. This will really
meet that need.”
