Volunteers make military care kits

By ELAN GRIGGS - Sun Herald

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OCEAN SPRINGS — AT&T employees and volunteers, members of the community and military personnel worked together Saturday at the AT&T Call Center in Ocean Springs to make care kits for the military men and women deployed overseas.

“Brave men and women in the U.S. military are fighting daily to protect our freedoms and win the war on terror at great sacrifice to themselves and their families,” said Mayo Flynt, state president of AT&T. “With the holidays right around the corner, this is a great way to show support for our military personnel. Through this AT&T Pioneer project, we can help respond to the difficulties soldiers and their families experience both at home and abroad.”

Boxes were stuffed with toiletries, calling cards, books and snacks. Notes of encouragement were put into each box to lift the spirits of those deployed overseas.

Staff Sgt. Jamie Powell was deployed earlier this year and appreciates what care packages mean to the men and women deployed.

“I know that care packages are a huge deal when you are deployed. When you get mail over there it is the best thing, it gives you a little piece of home,” Powell said.

Kathleen Shaughnessy and Diane Bullock, co-chairs of the project, were surprised by the turnout. With 50-plus volunteers, the boxes were packed within two hours instead of the five they expected it would take. Shaughnessy and Bullock were both grateful for the military support that came to help stuff the shoe boxes.

“More important than the content of the packages is the thought behind them. Soldiers are most grateful that the folks back home are making an effort to show they care,” Shaughnessy said. “This is a way to show our gratitude toward their service to our county. We appreciate all the soldiers deployed over there and God bless America.”