Doing their part to brighten military holidays
R.I. volunteers come together at 15th annual Operation Holiday Cheer
WARWICK — It may be the smallest state, but Rhode Island on Saturday showed just how big its heart can be, as volunteers from around the Ocean State descended upon the Rhode Island National Guard Armory in Warwick to assemble hundreds of care packages to be sent to the state's service members for the holiday season.
Betty Leach, a Coventry resident and president of the Rhode Island chapter of Blue Star Mothers of America, said that while she may be biased, she believed Rhode Island has the “warmest heart” and “most giving community” of all the 50 states when it comes to aiding its fighting men and women.
“If you go anywhere or tell anyone something about the military, everyone there listens, helps, and give back,” Leach said. She and an army of fellow Blue Star
Mothers on Saturday were helping to put candy and assorted sweet treats into red and green stockings that would be sent domestically and abroad.
A retired Air Force veteran, Leach has a daughter and son who both served in the U.S. Marines. Her son was discharged while her daughter is on active duty in Fort Worth, Texas. She described having children serving in the military as “a roller coaster,” noting that there can be times where there's not a lot of information and thus the Blue Star Mothers have to rely on each other.
Some, like Leach – who describes herself as a “news junkie” – are doing all they can to stay active on the latest regarding the armed forces, while others keep the television off because “it's too real for them.” But the mothers, she said, will always come together to share how they cope, laugh, cry, celebrate, and mourn.
“We're so fortunate and thankful,” Leach said. “It's very important to us … To do something for someone else like our own – we consider each person in the U.S. Military our own – we'll do whatever we can to make life easier and provide a taste of home.”
The 15th annual Operation Holiday Cheer program on Saturday sought to provide a little local holiday spirit for the men and women who will be away from Rhode Island and their families during the holidays.
In addition to candy-filled stockings, service members can expect nuts, seeds, jerky, cookies, chips, powdered drink mixes, regional newspapers, goodies from the New England Patriots and Pawtucket Red Sox, cards and notes from family and friends, and traditional Ocean State fare, including treats from Del's Lemonade or Dunkin' Donuts.
Elizabeth McDonald, a Coventry resident and senior director of emergency services for the American Red Cross, said that growing up as the daughter of a Navy man, she can relate to having holidays without loved ones nearby and the challenges that accompany that feeling.
Her father missed all but two Christmases when she was growing up, McDonald said, which is why she was so inspired by the work she was seeing from volunteers on Saturday morning. “I know what it's like to be on the other end,” she said.
“When I was a girl, we didn't have this. It's amazing to provide 560 to 600 boxes of coffee, Del's Lemonade, a little taste of home,” she said.
“I think we're a small state where everyone knows everyone. Everyone's like family. There's only two degrees of separation from someone who knows someone in the military or family with someone in the military,” McDonald said. “But we're all together to help.”
Lt. Gov. Daniel McKee was amazed by the activity level inside the Warwick armory, noting that there were more than 300 volunteers forming various assembly lines to ensure the care packages would be ready to be transported on Sunday.
“It's unbelievable,” McKee said. “The individuals in this room represent their families and the sacrifices made during a time when their family members are deployed.” The 500-plus care packages to be sent all over the world, he added, showed the “spirit of Rhode Island in every box.”
He said service members in the past have told him that when those Rhode Island care packages arrive in their units, it lifts everyone's spirits and there's a “tremendous amount of goodwill and spirit.”
“It does represent Rhode Island. People want to help. There's a lot of pride in the men and women who serve,” McKee added.
Gary Rehak of Johnston, a member of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, was on hand to take care of the received donations and wheel them into the armory, where volunteers inside assembled them into care packages. He said that he'd be back on Sunday morning to pack up the pallets of care packages, which will be loaded into a United States Postal Service trailer and transported to the Providence Post Office.
Once in Providence, the pallets will be disassembled, weighed, and labeled before once again going back on the pallets and into the USPS vehicles to be delivered to troops far and wide.
“It's really invaluable,” Rehak said. “You get that little something … It makes life a little bit easier … Alittle flavor of home, Christmas stockings and cards, it makes it a little easier for those being away from home.”