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Mostly Cloudy Holidays for heroes
Waterfront Warriors send 250 care packages overseas
Long Beach residents played Santa Claus this year by donating items for 250 care packages that will be sent to soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan just in time for the
holidays.
The campaign to collect items like toiletries, magazines and snacks was spearheaded by the Waterfront Warriors, a Long Beach-based organization that supports American troops. Working together with the VFW, the Long Beach School District and Long Beach Catholic School, the organizations began collecting donations last month.
“We were so thoroughly impressed,” Waterfront Warriors board member Robin Lynch said of the number of donations from the community. “People were just coming in with bags and bags of items.”
Last Saturday, some 20 volunteers assembled the care packages, which will be sent to about 10 soldiers deployed overseas who will distribute the packages to their platoons. VFW Commander John Zimmerman said he received many packages from his family while serving in Vietnam, which made him feel like he wasn’t forgotten. “It’s really heartwarming,” Zimmerman said of receiving anything while overseas. “It’s a good way to show soldiers they are appreciated.” He added that each of the boxes will include letters written by local students.
Laura Betz, a pre-K teacher at LBCS, said the students also included blank cards so soldiers could send messages home to their families. Among the most popular items collected from students included candy — some of it left over from Halloween — crossword puzzles and socks. District Superintendent Dr. Robert Greenberg left it up to each school to decide how they would like to participate in the campaign. Lido Elementary School Principal Brenda Young said that letters the students wrote were copied so they could be displayed on the school bulletin board.
“The children were very excited to do it,” Young said of writing letters and donating items. “Especially for the holidays.” She added that most of the students said they couldn’t comprehend not being home for the holidays, which she said made writing the letters more special.
