Judy Travis is running her very own Christmas workshop in Branmar Plaza.
But instead of making toys for good girls and boys, she and an army of volunteers are packing stockings full of holiday cheer for troops overseas through the fifth Christmas Stockings for Soldiers project.
The project was born when Travis’ son, Scott, was deployed to Iraq with the Army. She sent him and his unit boxes of treats and gifts so they would know she was thinking of them, said Travis of Brandywine Hundred.
After her son returned to Germany and was out of harm’s way, she decided to keep sending packages to other troops who needed support. She and a group of volunteers put together 200 stockings in her living room five years ago that they shipped to soldiers overseas.
This year, the group plans to send 5,000 stockings.
“We want to send our military kids a smile and a hug for the holidays because they can’t be with their families,” she said.
The group is supporting three entire units this year, each containing 1,000 soldiers. They are also sending 2,000 other stockings to smaller groups, she said. One unit of Army soldiers is serving in such a remote region of Afghanistan the only way they can receive mail is via helicopter or donkey.
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Christmas Stockings for soldiers needs: Christmas candy, gum, cracker jacks, pretzels, tea and hot drink mixes, trail mix, Ramen noodles, small cans of tuna, current magazines, AT&T phone cards, disposable cameras, lip balm, foot powder, small toiletries, crew socks and cash donations Donations can be dropped off at the Stocking Store, Branmar Plaza in the vacated Patterson Schwartz Office, 6:30 - 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 1 - 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday before Dec. 1 |
To meet the massive need, a horde of volunteers gather at the Stocking Store -- a vacated realty office in Branmar Plaza -- five nights a week and weekend afternoons to pack.
Each stocking was hand-made earlier this year, and will be shipped overseas filled with a myriad of items including candy, snacks, pocket-sized games and puzzles, magazines and books, phone cards, disposable cameras and socks.
By this time, Travis and her volunteers have stocking stuffing down to a science.
They line up on either side of long tables covered with boxes filled to the brim with stocking stuffers, then make their way down the line, shoving handfuls of candy, pairs of socks and tubes of toothpaste into bright red and green stockings.
On a good night, they can pack 400 stockings.
It felt good to be able to do something to help, said Jordan MacDowall, 17, of Newark, as he unpacked a box full of stockings.
“The troops are out there fighting a war for us, so we shouldn’t ignore them,” he said.
The holidays are particularly difficult for soldiers overseas and their families, said Newark resident Erika Leighton, whose husband is serving with the Army in Iraq.
As she and her daughter, Kennedy, unpacked a box of stockings, Erika said it was the least they could do to show they care about the soldiers who have sacrificed so much.
“This is just a little piece of home coming to them,” she said.
The finished stockings will be shipped starting Dec. 1, said volunteer Sandy Pembleton of Brandywine Hundred. Most of the troops don’t know they are coming, making them the ultimate Christmas surprise. Some soldiers don’t receive any mail the entire time they are deployed, said Pembleton, whose son, Brett, served overseas twice with the Navy.
It’s important to make sure those soldiers know someone back home cares about them and is grateful for what they are doing, she said.
