Some of the soldier's most requested items include twinkies, peanut M&M's and beef jerky.
(SALEM, Ore.) - The holidays may be over but a group of volunteers in Salem is making sure that the gifts keep on coming to our military service men and women in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Volunteer Cris DudekThey gather monthly in the capitol city to take part in a project called Love Boxes. The group recently celebrated it's 10,000th Love Box that was sent overseas. They are bound for Afghanistan and Iraq, to soldiers that not only greatly enjoy them personally, but the contents of the Love Boxes often mean extra food and gifts that can be handed out to the local citizens to help in the battle to "win their hearts and minds".
That phrase was used frequently in the Vietnam War, but in Afghanistan the term is actually taking hold and working as a much-needed philosophy.
For the price of the postage, they fill and mail all kinds of items to soldiers that are easy to buy in the states, but very hard to find in a war zone. The items range from food to shampoo, extras to essentials, and they are often things that the soldiers requested.
As you can imagine, there is a list of things that soldiers long to have but rarely do. While most people in the combat theaters agree that the food is reasonable, there still exists a desire to have snacks and any other variety of things from a supermarket in the U.S.A.
Here are some of the most requested items...
"Beef jerky, rice crispy treats"
"Little things that they can give away"
"This is coffee for our great soldiers"
"Like twinkies, that was a big hit"
"Scoobie snacks, which are little jelly snacks"
"Things to bathe with"
"Peanut M&M's are a hot favorite"
The team putting the Love Boxes together is a mix of longtime volunteers and people helping out for the first time.
John Baker is the founder of the group and he does it with the help of people like Cris Dudek, whose husband is serving overseas. "My husband is stationed at KMTC in Afghanistan and I met John Baker through one of the women I homeschool, and one of the women in my homeschool group came in and told us about these boxes you could send in for eight dollars."
John Baker says Cris's involvement helped his initial course, "Cris facilitated me making a presentation at their church in Keizer and then that spurred some other people and it multiplied and the word just spread, and it's just been such a blessing for me."
While the project moves along smoothly, there are many steps involved. Volunteers like Leanne Jordan who has been with the Love Boxes project since the beginning, work side by side with people like Auriel Carter, who only heard about Love Boxes recently. Before the night is over, Leanne says hundreds of these packages will be ready to go.
"We are probably at about a hundred now and my job here is to put the declaration forms on the boxes, and the stamps. She's doing the stamps, I'm doing the declarations. We'll probably have 300 before the night is over."
John Baker says the number of volunteers is a direct reflection of the importance of the Love Box project. He says it allows many goals to be met.
Visit the Website Loveboxes for our Troops at: loveboxesforourtroops.com/
Watch the video report below by Bonnie King of Salem-News.com:
Video
Salem, Oregon Volunteers Keep Soldiers Well Supplied With Love Boxes (VIDEO)Salem-News.com