VFW sends holiday care packages to veterans

Nearly two dozen military veterans will be getting a taste of home, thanks to a group of VFW Auxiliary members.

Six women and one man gathered at VFW Post 3596 at Plains last Monday to prepare care packages as part of the "Goody Boxes For Service Personnel" program, which include nearly 100 items from chap sticks to camouflage NAPA Auto Parts caps. It took the group about two hours to get the packages ready for the post office. Twenty men and women from the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps will receive an assortment of items - pens, pads, toiletries, newspapers, popcorn, heavy socks, playing cards, teabags, and even beef jerky from McGowan Grocery.

"Our businesses are just the best. Our merchants have been very generous this year," said Barb Kincaid, who's been an auxiliary member on and off for 50 years. Her father was a World War II soldier and her brother was a Navy man during the Vietnam War. Helpers also included: Dave and Janet Brandon, Cindy Gray, Linda Barnes, Pat Farmer, and Nora Verpoorten.

Post 3596 Auxiliary has been conducting the program since 1939, said Verpoorten, a member for nearly 40 years. "Getting something from home helps a lot with morale," said Gray, whose late husband Val retired from the Air Force after 22 years. Gray said it shows them that people back home are thinking of them.

The majority of the recipients were stationed inside the United States, though a couple were deployed on ships or overseas in the Middle East or Europe. One package went to a husband and wife, Kent and Rosette Frye, both serving with the Army in North Carolina. Relatives provide the names of the veterans getting the packages. Randy Garrison's sons, Aaron of the Navy and Brandon of the Army, are receiving packages. Garrison, owner of the Printery, donated numerous items for the vets.

Much of the items were donated by Plains individuals and businesses, but the group also received nearly $1,000 in cash from businesses in Plains, Paradise and Thompson Falls to purchase items for the packages, which cost almost $23 each to mail.

Gray said they included personal letters and cards from fifth and sixth grade students, thanking them for protecting the country. A girl named Ginger wrote to the veterans in honor of her father, who served in the Navy's Construction Battalion. "There's just some awesome letters from these kids," said Gray, who's participated in the program for about 15 years.

Gray took the original letters to the Printery and had one copy from each child for each vet. The Printery did the copying for free, said Gray. This is the third year children's letters have been added to the care packages, she said. "It's so cool to be in a small town where people care enough to be involved with the veterans," said Kincade.

"What I would love is to hear some of your stories and how you like the military! You would make my decade," wrote Ginger, who also drew a map of the United States and wrote, this is what you're fighting for. "Without people like you our country would be in so much danger, but with people like you our flag will always fly in the wind," said a girl named Kendall. "I (heart) U with all of my heart and my courage," she wrote. "This one little girl just made me cry," said Gray, who loves adding the kids' correspondence for the veterans.

They also added puzzle books, which Kincaid believes especially helps those in a war zone keep their minds occupied on something other than the situation they're in. "This is what we do," said Kincaid. "It's all about the vets."