Operation Caring Friends  Articles and releases

Dec 29th

 

Care packages sent to soldiers

Mount Clemens General rounds up supplies, letters for those wounded in Iraq

PUBLISHED: December 29, 2004

By Amanda Lee
Macomb Daily Staff Writer

More than 30 wounded soldiers can expect a special gift this year thanks to workers of the Matt Gaberty Heart Center at Mount Clemens General Hospital. The care packages -- consisting of duffel bags full of personal items, magazines and games -- were collected by workers and are expected to be shipped to Landstuhl medical hospital in Germany later this week for soldiers wounded in Iraq.

"Basically, what happens is these soldiers are removed from wherever they're wounded and airlifted out," said Mary Merritt, a Marine veteran and member of the Women Marines Association. "They have to leave without anything, nothing of their own, so we put these bags together so that they have some of the things they might need as they recuperate."

Merritt worked in association with Peggy Rossman, a Marine widow and a worker at the heart center.

"We always have something we do (for charity) around the holidays, and when I heard about what (Merritt) was working on I asked around to see if everyone else thought it was a good idea, too," Rossman said. "The response I got, though, I just couldn't believe it."

Hospital workers have been gathering the items for the past month and a half, and garnered enough donations to put 31 bags together. The bags -- part of the Operation Caring Friends -- are sent out specifically to soldiers who do not get support from home.

"I've heard that these packages are extremely important to the soldiers because not only do they get the basic things they need to take care of themselves during their stay, they also get something to keep their belongings in when they get ready to leave," Merritt said. "That's what the bag is for."

In addition to the clothing, toiletries, DVDs, CDs, games, puzzle books and magazines, program organizers also worked in conjunction with area schools to have students write letters to the troops.

"They're the ones who are writing interesting stuff that, hopefully, will help lift the spirits of the soldiers," Merritt said. "It really means something to them to hear from the kids."

In addition to the goods donated by hospital employees, $280 was also donated by the hospital to defray the cost of sending the packages overseas -- a fee that often runs more than $2,000.

http://macombdaily.com/stories/122904/loc_carepack001.shtml

Dec22 2004 

Romeo postal workers adopt U.S. soldier for Christmas by JENNIFER PRESTON Observer Staff Writer       Romeo postal workers are adopting "one of their own" this holiday season.        Lance Cpl. Jocquenes Sims sees several hundred pieces of mail a day go through his hands as a battalion administration mail clerk stationed near Fallujah, yet receives none of his own. So postal employees have taken it upon themselves to make sure Sims, a 19-year-old U.S. Marine from Georgia, receives plenty of mail with his name on it this Christmas along with the mail he is processing for his fellow soldiers.        Romeo Postmaster Alex Stubbs, who sent off at least five care packages to the Marine recently with plans to send more in the future, said he and his employees wanted to do what they could for someone who is doing so much for others, and who is basically an extension of them, only in Iraq.        "He's getting mail shipments to the soldiers but none is going to him, which is just not right," he said. "We figure this is the least we can do for someone who's over there putting his life on the line for us and so many others in this country. He's in essence completing the job for us over there."        Stubbs said what started out as a simple request from him for a card to be sent to Sims grew to so much more because his employees really wanted to do what they could to make Sims feel appreciated.        "It was amazing, though not surprising, how all of my employees came through," he said. "At first we were going to send a card, but all the employees decided `We have to do more than that.' They all stopped working when I started telling them about it. I could tell they were all touched."        Stubbs said his employees went above and beyond what he asked for.        "After deciding to do more than just a card or letter, I was really planning on sending just one or two packages. I tried to collect money from everyone, but they said they wanted to go out and buy some things themselves. And boy did they ever!" One of the five packages contained letters and drawings from the children of the postal employees.        Mary Ann Merritt, Bruce Township resident and a member of the Women Marines Association, runs a program called Operation Caring Friends. Operation Caring Friends is an ongoing project organized by Merritt to collect donated supplies as well as correspondence and send the supplies and letters to U.S. Servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was through Merritt that Stubbs first learned of Sims.        Merritt referred Stubbs to Sims' First Sergeant, Irene O'Neal, who is also stationed in Iraq.        "At least one postal employee said it was more than ironic, it was just plain wrong that someone who handled all the mail for his fellow soldiers didn't get any himself. "It's not right that a soldier who protects our freedom and helps move the mail is forgotten," said Pamela Papineau, a Romeo rural carrier associate.        Stubbs and his staff are excited about their project, but he sees it as something more.        "We've got something in common with this soldier because of his line of work, and it's created a connection," he said. "When you think about it, that's what the mail does best, especially during the holidays ­ it connects us to one another."        Stubbs is encouraging other post offices to adopt a soldier and said he is very pleased with his own staff.        "I am really proud of them," he said. "They are good people with good hearts."        The Romeo Post Office has been involved in helping Operation Caring Friends ship their packages and correspondence overseas to soldiers since the spring of 2003.        "A lot of thanks goes to Alex and the Romeo Post Office," Merritt said. "They do whatever is needed to process boxes. They bend over backwards to make sure I have everything I need even if they have to go to other post offices. They've been a tremendous help."        The Serecky family of Romeo have also adopted Sims and have been sending him care packages, Merritt said.        Receiving the needed supplies and correspondence helps keep morale up among service men and women, Merritt said. "These kids are seeing a lot more than we'd ever like to see," she said.        Merritt estimates that Operating Caring Friends has sent about 1,500 packages to troops overseas since Spring 2003. The group sends about 200 care packages a month. "I've been doing this for about two years now," she said. "I will not stop until they all come home. As long as we get an address, we'll keep sending what they need." Merritt said right now she has a list of about 250 soldiers who are receiving care packages from Operation Caring Friends. Most of these soldiers are stationed in Fallujah.        "Nobody does this for a pat on the back," she said. "They do it to make a difference. We try to reach not only the soldiers, but the children there as well."        Merritt said a lot of people see only the violent and tragic side of the war in the media. "They don't show you all the good we're doing there," she said. "They don't publicize how many Iraqis appreciate what we are doing there."        Operation Caring Friends is always accepting donations from community members. The supplies they are looking for include: soap, facial wash, disposable razors, shower scrounges, cream aftershave, travel size games, disposable cameras, baby wipes, disinfecting wipes, Q-Tips, paper, envelopes, pens, trail mix, gum, coffee creamer, hard candy, feminine products, foot powder, toothbrush and toothpaste, hand lotion, bug spray, deodorant, and "anything and everything," Merritt said.        Donations or contributions can be sent to Women Marines Association, Motor City Chapter, P.O. Box 590, Romeo, MI 48065. Items can also be dropped off at the Romeo Post Office, 119 Church Street, or at Frontier Town on Van Dyke just north of 31 Mile in Washington Township. © Copyright 2000-2004 The Romeo Observer

 

Nov 14th  http://www.detnews.com/2004/metro/0411/14/D03-4384.htm

September 2004 _ National Service Award

by MICHELLE TANGUAY , Romeo Observer News Editor          

      Bruce Township resident Mary Ann Merritt recently received the prestigious National Service Award from the Women Marines Association (WMA) during the organization's biennial convention held earlier this month in San Diego, Calif.
       "I was just in total, total shock," Merritt said when they called her name during opening ceremonies of the convention.
       The award is given to a woman who exemplifies the Women Marines Association, an organization that was founded in 1960 to ensure that the history of women Marines would be passed on to future generations of Marines. Merritt received the award from National President Carol Mutter, lieutenant general retired.
       Merritt has been a member of the Motor City Chapter MI-2 of the organization since 1977 and has served as an officer for 24 of those 27 years. Nationally, the WMA has 77 chapters with some 4,000 members, Merritt said. The Motor City Chapter has 40 members.
       "We're always looking for more members," she said.
       Merritt's service, for which she was recognized, is well-known in the Romeo area. She has been involved with Operation Caring Friends, a program that collects items and then sends care packages to those serving in Iraq . The ongoing program began in 2002 and was created by the Motor City Chapter. Merritt also sends care packages on her own. She said the letters she receives back from the soldiers, offering their thanks and telling of their experiences make her efforts more than worthwhile.
       "That's why I do it," she said.
       The award also recognizes Merritt's dedication in promoting the WMA. During the convention, she was also awarded an engraved Marine Corps clock for being the top recruiter in 2003.
       Merritt joined the Marine Corps in 1974 shortly after graduating from high school. One day, she was passing an Armed Services recruiting office in her hometown of Sterling Heights and decided to stop in.
       "I walked in and the Army guy was busy," she said
       Then she saw the recruiting area for the Marine Corps.
       "Something impressed me about the Marines."
       Merritt's goal at the time was to go to art school and the recruiter asked her to bring back her portfolio, which she did. While she says the Marine Corps has an "awesome art school" in Quantico , art was not to become her specialty as a Marine as she would find out after boot camp.
       The news that she had enlisted in the Marines did not receive a favorable reaction from her parents who eventually came to accept the idea.
       "I was the rebellious one," said Merritt, the second of four daughters.
       She recalled the recruiter picking her up at home at 5 a.m. the day she left for basic training at Paris Island .
       After boot camp, she learned art was not to be her specialty. Instead, she was sent to Camp Lejeune where she trained to become an electrician. But any regret about a career in art was short-lived.
       "It was probably the best thing I've ever done with my life," she said of joining the Marines.
       After training in Camp Lejeune , she was sent to Albany , Ga. , her first duty base, where she became the only woman and Marine to work as a lineman at the base.
       "I worked with five civilians," she said.
       Since the uniform for a woman Marine at the time was dressy, Merritt had to receive special permission to wear blue jeans, a T-shirt and boots to do her work.
       While serving in Georgia , she met and married her first husband, a fellow Marine. When she became pregnant in 1975, she had to leave the Marine Corps, a rule which is no longer in effect, Merritt said.
       "Now they allow women to stay in," she said.
       In 1976, she joined the Reserves and served for 10 years. Having moved back to Michigan from Georgia , her time as a Reservist was spent at Selfridge Air National Guard Base.
       In addition to her work with the WMA, Merritt mentors young Marines and assists Marines and their families with services available to them when not working as pipefitter for General Motors or spending time with her family. A 14-year resident of Bruce Township , she is married to Jeff and has two adult children, Cathy and Michael. She is also the grandmother of Alina and Alec.
       She credits her parents and the Marines for what she has become.
       "My parents gave me an excellent foundation," she said. "The Marines shaped that foundation."  Re-printed with permission from the Romeo Observer