Crystal Lake church sends care packages to troops

Among its numerous missions, Ridgefield Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church provides care packages for troops in the Middle East.

The packages are sent throughout the year, providing items the troops have requested. The church has sent Dog Days of Summer boxes, stockings at Christmas, and birthday boxes on their birthdays.

The newest fundraiser is Cookie Lift, which will send packages of cookies to the Middle East.

Mary Moltmann, who coordinates the endeavors, recalls when the mission began.

"It started when the Iraq war began in March 2003. My husband has always talked so fondly of the care packages that he received in Vietnam. I saw children and grandchildren of church members being sent to the war, and I had a student in one of my classes at MCC activated with his reserve unit, so I wanted to help the troops."

They adopted a 300-member squadron of Marines at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq in 2006 and another in 2007, and this past year they adopted the 54 members of the Woodstock Armory's Delta Company, 1/178th Infantry Regiment that deployed to Afghanistan.

"Members and friends refer their loved ones serving in the military in the Middle East to us. So far we have adopted 639 troops," Moltmann said. "Unless we have adopted a unit, we usually sponsor five or six troops at any given time.

"We are always pleased when a troop writes to say how much he or she liked the care package," Moltmann said. "For instance, we sent wheat grass seeds for a soldier to plant in Afghanistan for the summer solstice, and she wrote to say that it was a huge hit and everyone loved to come by and touch the real grass. In February and March this year, we coordinated the collection of shoes for children in Afghanistan. We mailed almost 500 pairs to 1 Sgt. Andrew Fowles (D Co 1/178th INF), and he and his soldiers met with a village elder to arrange for them to hand them out to the children."

Little things mean a lot, she said, it doesn't take a huge donation to raise spirits.

"I wish the community knew how much the troops appreciate knowing that they are not forgotten," Moltmann said. "Most soldiers write to say that the best thing about the care package was the notes of support. One soldier stationed in Baghdad wrote to say that after he had a really hard day on duty, he would come back to his bunk, take out our letters of support, reread them and feel better."

Members and friends of the church and people in the community who hear about the project help raise the much-needed funds. The group has no full-time employees, but it has 40 volunteers.

Current donation wish list items include notes of support, cards and drawings by children, money for postage, skin cream, anti-itch cream, gel insoles, AA and AAA batteries, CDs, comedy DVDs, beef jerky, plastic jars of peanut butter, and snack-sized packs of nuts, trail mix, dried fruit, cookies, crackers, candy, gum.

You can drop off donations at Ridgefield Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church, 8505 Church St., Crystal Lake. To volunteer, call (815) 354-3842 or e-mail cookielift@rclpc.org, Visit www.rclpc.org and click on "Notes from the Troops" to see photos of them and notes from them.