Letter to the Editor

Published: November 8, 2007

To the Editor:

I am writing to let you know of some wonderful caring people in the St. John Neumann parish of Lilburn.

I am a volunteer here in central Florida with Operation Shoebox, an organization started more than four years ago by a mother—Mary Harper of Belleview, Fla.—who had children serving with the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan. She did not want our soldiers fighting overseas to think they were forgotten by Americans back home. She soon organized hundreds of volunteers to sew drawstring bags and Christmas stockings, and fill each with toiletries, candy, games, stationery, and food items.

Each week, 800 bags are filled and 3,000 Christmas stocks per week from October through December and are shipped directly to troops serving in the Middle East. Discarded American flags are collected, and an embroidered star is sent inside each bag for the soldier to carry. A personal handwritten card also goes inside each bag or stocking, reminding that soldier that we are proud of them and pray for their safe return home.

Operation Shoebox relies 100 percent on volunteers and donations.

A year ago, my mother, Paddie Major of Lawrenceville, visited me, and I took her to see Operation Shoebox in action. It is quite an impressive sight, and no visitor can go away without feeling patriotic and proud. Soldiers often come by to thank us in person when they return from overseas duty, and many of them write or e-mail us a thank-you from their bases in the Middle East.

When my mother returned to Georgia, she immediately spread the word among her friends at St. John Neumann. Every couple of months, when I visit her, I return home with bags and boxes full of travel-size toiletries, decks of cards, American flags, and fabric that she has collected from her friends at the parish. I am amazed that even after a year, they still continue to gather the items for Operation Shoebox.

We like to think that Operation Shoebox plays a part in keeping America’s warriors strong, and we are grateful for the good people at St. John Neumann, who remember our brave men and women serving our country.

Beth Braun, The Villages, Fla.