A report on ABC 33/40 last week said that 3,000 troops from Alabama are in Afghanistan. There are several men and women from our area serving there.
Having been in the military myself, I can tell you for a fact that serving your country is an honor, but being away from your home and family is very hard. Stacy and Chris Edwards are trying to ease that hardship. The two are heading up an effort to collect personal items, candy, and other things for our troops in Afghanistan. There are no stores there in Afghanistan that carries the everyday items that we take for granted. The Family Outreach which is a group that helps family here cope with loved ones being away from home, helped Chris and Stacy come up with a list of things that would be appreciated by our troops.
The program was kicked off several weeks ago, but the couple have had a difficult time generating any publicity. The local papers have promised coverage, but no coverage has been provided.
A teacher at Dora High School (Stacy Rollins) has started an effort there and she plans to involve the various clubs at the school to get involved with the effort.
Stacy and Chris Edwards have set up a collection point at the Dora Fire Department building near City Hall. “The quicker we can fill up a pallet, the quicker the military will ship the goods to our troops,” says Stacy. If each individual family sent care packages to their loved ones, it would be very expensive and slow. Mrs. Edwards says that if people choose to contribute to the “Helping Our Troops” program that the military will deliver the shipments at no cost. “The stuff will get there a lot faster too,” she says.
If you would like to help, you can simply purchase items off the list and deliver them to the Dora Fire Department, or if you have a lot of things, the group can arrange for pickup.
“The “Helping Our Troops” program will be on ongoing project as long as we have troops in Afghanistan,” says Stacy.
Stacy also says that the group prefers not to accept cash but prepaid phone cards are a great gift for a soldier who is so far away from home.