The 56 Cent Project

Just after 9/11, this nation bled red, white and blue.  We heard and saw the horrendous circumstances our fighting men and women were going through in order to keep the fight from our shores.  Most people seemed to recognize the sacrifices and did what they could to support the troops.  There were concerts and care packages and classrooms full of kids sending cards… but that seemed to trickle off after a while.  I hate to admit it, but I am one of those people who let things wind down.  I adopted military members from all the branches and my company helped by sponsoring the postage to send my care packages.  After many years, my packages were not being sent on a regular basis and then stopped.  When I was sending packages, I took a lot of time and effort to come up with creative ways to show my appreciation.  Usually I never heard what happened to the items I sent, but then again, I was not doing it for the thanks.  However, occasionally I would get some feedback.

I remember spending a lot of time and effort to create a special care package for an Army Captain who was going to be in Iraq for the Christmas holidays.  He was out in the field a couple days before Christmas when his base’s mess hall was blown up by a suicide bomber.  Although he was uninjured physically, he lost some good friends that day.  He later told me that they listened to the CD’s I sent them and put the decorations up, but it still could not get them into the spirit of the holidays.  An Air Force pilot said that he would put items from my packages into cargo they were dropping to those in forward bases. Before he left his assignment, he had the opportunity to visit a forward post and saw them using the items he had shared with them.  When my boss was deployed to Iraq, we sent 40 pounds of goodies for his Navy unit at Easter one year.  I heard the boxes arrived, but nothing more.  At Gary’s wedding some months later, his best man said in his speech that when they reached their breaking point, my boss would pull out something like a kite to help break the tension.  Kites and bubbles were an Easter tradition my mother started for my sister and I when we were younger.  I knew they were probably corny to send grown men, but they got me a hug from the Best Man when he found out I was the one sending the packages that Gary shared, so I am guessing they were not so corny after all.

It was amazing for me to hear that something as simple as a kite could mean so much to those so far from home. This past Christmas I was introduced to something else that really means a lot to our boots on the ground… socks!  I have been told that they can never have too many socks.  That is why when I heard Homefront America could get a good deal by purchasing athletic socks in bulk, I thought I would try to do what I could to help them collect $784 as part of their iCare Deployment Kit mission.  That is the amount needed to buy every one of the 1,400 soldiers and sailors leaving Camp Pendleton in August an extra pair of socks to take with them.  A pair of socks might not sound like a lot, but as I learned firsthand, even the little things mean a lot.

Have you been meaning to do something, but never really got around to it?  Why wait?  This is so easy, everybody can help!  Kids could do some extra chores around the house or cash in some recycling gathered from the neighbors.  Adults, going to Starbucks this week?  Have a regular coffee instead of a specialty one and you easily save 56 cents or a pair of socks.  Take your lunch to work once a week instead of eating out and I bet you could save $5.60 or 10 pairs of socks.  Planning to take your family to the movies?  Instead of spending $56.00 (or more), why not donate the money to buy 100 pairs of socks and pull out one of those old board games gathering dust in the closet.  Instead of sitting in a theater staring at a screen, have an old fashioned family night at home and talk with one another! (And don’t make mom do all the work.  How about everybody pitching in and helping by preparing one of the dinner items and helping to clean the kitchen!?!)  Celebrate the fact that your family is all there, not prepping to ship one of them out to a destination where people will be trying to permanently eliminate them, not merely bankrupt them with Boardwalk during a cutthroat game of Monopoly.