A group of military wives, mothers and friends have taken matters into their own hands to ensure Delaware’s troops are taken care of overseas.
Delaware Boots on the Ground, founded by Middletown residents Kathy Greenwell and Shirley Brooks, has been raising money for troops and their families since last April.
The organization started as a small, grassroots operation and has grown by leaps and bounds, reaching the steps of the capitol in June when Gov. Ruth Ann Minner declared July 4 “Delaware Boots on the Ground Day.”
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The declaration celebrates the organization’s biggest fundraising campaign ever – a weeklong push to raise $75,000 from June 29 to July 4.
Greenwell, 49, never envisioned Boots on the Ground would become so popular when she and Brooks founded the organization over breakfast one morning.
Greenwell learned a lot about the military from her husband, a 35-year veteran of the Army National Guard, and wanted to start Boots on the Ground because she saw how the federal government could not provide all the support troops need.
Boots, helmets and ammunition come from federal supplies, but civilians must step in to outfit the troops with granola bars, extra socks and toothbrushes, she said. Many people donate personal items for soldiers, but it is difficult to ship those items and even more difficult for the troops to carry extra toiletries around, she said.
Instead, Boots on the Ground collects money to provide soldiers with $10 military gift cards they can use to buy what they need on any base around the world, said Kim King, the organization’s secretary. They have awarded more than 1,000 gift cards since the organization started and King hopes to award thousands more in the future.
“The sad thing is I think our troops will be deployed in the years to come and we want their families to know that we are out there and we care,” she said.
Supporting troops means helping their families
Supporting the troops means making sure their families are cared for while they are deployed, said King. Boots on the Ground works with the military’s family services unit to find out exactly what the state’s 764 military families need, and then delivers help immediately, said King, 45, of Kennett Square, Pa..
For example, Boots on the Ground helped a soldier whose family lost all their possessions when their home burned down. It would have taken days to receive help through the family services unit, but Boots on the Ground provided gift cards within hours so he could buy new clothes for his kids, she said.
Kids can have an especially difficult time dealing with a parent's deployment because some parents spend years fighting thousands of miles away from their children, said Greenwell.
To help military kids, Boots on the Ground funds parties and campouts to bring military kids together, said Greenwell. People in military families understand each other -- the stress and grief that are daily companions --so having someone to relate to can make a big difference in a child's life, she said.
It can make a big difference in a soldier’s life, too, because knowing their families are taken care of provides peace of mind -- something that cannot be sent in a care package, said King.
The support is appreciated by soldiers and their families, said Jill Biden of Greenville, who has been working with the organization since April.
She started working with Boots on the Ground after returning from the presidential campaign trail with her husband, Joe. Biden remembered hearing voters talk about Veteran’s Affairs Hospitals closing or cuts to military education benefits and she wanted to do something to help the troops.
But Biden, 57, also has a personal reason for supporting Boots on the Ground: her son, Beau, is preparing to leave for Iraq with the Army National Guard in September. She finds it is difficult to live with the knowledge that Beau will be in harm’s way, but the support of Boots on the Ground helps her cope with the stress.
She said her son believes in what he is doing and she is proud of him. Biden hopes Boots on the Ground inspires more people to be proud of our nation’s soldiers.
“I think it is important to create awareness of what our military men and women are doing for us,” she said. “There are a lot of Delaware families that wake up everyday and think of their sons, daughters, husbands or wives who are fighting a war.”
