Gary's Care Packages collects gifts for soldiers
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TO MAKE A DONATION
Donations can be dropped off at the Victoria Army Recruiting Station, 6412 N. Navarro St., Suite No. L, Victoria from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday until Nov. 20.
Drop-off and sorting
Nov. 21
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TO MAKE A DONATION
Donations can be dropped off at the Victoria Army Recruiting Station, 6412 N. Navarro St., Suite No. L, Victoria from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday until Nov. 20.
Drop-off and sorting
Nov. 21
10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Grace Lutheran Church
9806 NE Zac Lentz Parkway
Suggested items for donation
Razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste, Band-Aids, moist wipes, Neosporin, peanut butter crackers, hard candies, gum, Cheese Nips, batteries, cards, checkers, disposable cameras, stationery, pencils, pens, journals, small Bibles, books, inspirational notes, pictures of home.
Items not accepted: perishable items, alcohol, tobacco or pornography.
If you have a specific soldier you would like to send a package to e-mail an address and name to garyscarepackages@yahoo.com.
For more information contact Heather Wendel at 361-237-9040.
After a disappointing year of small donations, the organizers of Gary's Care Packages, almost didn't do it again this year.
Gary's Care is a local effort to collect Christmas gifts for soldiers overseas.
"We kind of lost a little bit of the spirit last year when it wasn't the kind of response that the community could do," said Heather Walters, who organized the project.
The project was organized in 2005 after her brother, Gary Walters, a 32-year-old Victoria native, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
After the death of Sgt. Anthony "Gabe" Green from Yorktown as well as the Fort Hood shootings, the organizers believed they could not quit.
"We think Gary's still talking to us, so we can't quit," said Heather Wendel, a fellow organizer.
"It's kind of motivated us again," Walters said. "It hit home."
Last year the project collected a little more than 100 packages. This year Walters is hoping to triple that.
"I think it's going to inspire people to come together," Walters said.
Organizers are asking the community to donate hygiene items, snack foods and as well as money to help pay for shipping costs. The donation drive will last until Saturday, Nov. 21. So far, the response has been slow, but the women are hopeful.
"It's very important: We have to keep Gary's name alive to keep his spirit here," Wendel said. "Gary died for our freedom, and people don't like the war, but they're our brothers and sisters over there, husbands and wives, and we've got to support them."
