Students
package up care for troops
Friday, November 12, 2004 • By LINDA
LISANTI • The Express-Times
GREENWICH TWP. -- Sara Bergstresser underestimated the
power of one e-mail.
When the Greenwich School librarian put out a call to
the school staff two weeks ago to adopt troops for the
holidays, Bergstresser expected to get a few takers.
On Thursday, as Veterans Day events went on across the
region, students and staff at the elementary school put the
finishing touches on care packages for 43 U.S. service
members stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"People want to do more than stick a ribbon on their
cars," Bergstresser said. "The feeling I get is people want
to do something. They just don't know how to connect."
The school community adopted the troops through
Operation Support Our Troops, a non-profit organization made
up of military families whose sole mission is to support the
armed forces.
Bergstresser said it didn't really start out as a drive,
but quickly mushroomed into one.
"It just grew," she said.
Each class at the school adopted its own serviceman or
woman, as did some staff members and families.
Cathy Husek, who volunteers in the library, said her
family decided to adopt its own service member after she
heard Bergstresser talking about the project. Husek said she
then began talking it up at the bus stop and more parents
joined in.
On Thursday, one room in the school's media center was
filled with care packages. Inside of them were shirts,
blankets, toiletries, food and some luxuries such as
hand-held games, cards and poker chips.
Most of the school's adoptive troops are officers with
others underneath them, Bergstresser said, which means that
the supplies will make it to hundreds of troops.
Others are on the advance front and separated from their
units.
The service member Bergstresser adopted doesn't have a
PX -- a general store -- so the only goods he receives are
those that are sent to him.
Bergstresser's own son serves in the military. Sid
Bergstresser, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army's 3rd Military
Intelligence Battalion, helped inspect the packages.
He is home on leave until after Thanksgiving, when he
will have to report back to Korea, where his unit provides
intelligence.
He said it's extremely important to the troops to know
that there are people back home who support them and are
thinking of them.
"It's a great morale booster," he said of packages and
letters.
He said the school's efforts were "awesome. I was amazed
by the amount of goods that they got and the thought that
went behind them. They were very thoughtful."
Husek, who has children in the fourth grade,
kindergarten and preschool, said the students really got
involved in the project.
She said her children had a hard time stopping the
shopping.
"Every time we were in a store, they would say, oh, that
would be good for our soldier," she said.
Bryan Gardner, 9, was excited when he heard the school
was going to be adopting service members.
The fourth-grader said his cousin is in training to
become a Marine and may soon need supplies like the service
members they've adopted.
"I'm just hoping he stays OK out there. That they're all
safe," he said.
Reporter Linda Lisanti can be reached at 610-258-7171 or
by e-mail at llisanti@express-times.com.
© 2004 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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