OWC stuffs more than 700 boxes for troops overseas
Two- hundred and fifty people from around the shore volunteered their time Sunday to support our troops overseas. Operation We Care had their largest care package packing event ever with the bar set high.
Jeff Merritt, with Operation We Care says, “There’s always troops deployed around the world and we just want to show our support and appreciation.”
Merritt has been leading Operation We Care, a local non-profit dedicated to supplying items like food, toiletries, and magazines for troops overseas through care packages since 2007. The organization hosts packing events to get the community involved in supporting soldiers.
The group held their largest event yet on Sunday. They had a lofty goal of filling seven hundred white postal boxes. If you think civilians were the only ones doing the work, think again. Some of the care package recipients were on the other end of the deal Sunday.
Curtis Scott serves with the U.S. Air Force, “I know exactly how it feels to get one. I mean my parents always taught me if you can, give back.”
Scott just got back from serving in Jordan with the U.S. Air Force. 47 ABC actually spoke with him via skype back in November while he was on his deployment. His unit got two-hundred and fifty-five care packages from Operation We Care.
Scott continues, “You’ll see notes and the kids put little writings or drawing in there. We’ll cut up the box and put it up on the wall. It really means a lot to us.”
Mark “Doc” Truesdale was deployed three times in the last four years with the U.S. Navy. He says, “These boxes bring tears to your eyes. You give one box and you’re helping four or five soldiers.”
Jonathan Steele was deployed to Afghanistan three times and once to Iraq. Steele continues, “It was really nice receiving that because a lot of times we weren’t able to get that stuff over there.”
Those reactions are why members of Operation We Care say they can’t stop a good thing and plan to make their packing parties bigger and better every year.
Operation We Care tells 47 ABC they packed seven- hundred and four boxes Sunday. They reached a grand total of more than seven-thousand boxes packed since they first started doing this eight years ago.
All the boxes will be mailed Wednesday morning at the 71st Street post office in Ocean City. They’ll be going to troops in Afghanistan, Kuwait, and four ships out at sea.
