December 16, 2004

Group turns anger to action; sends care packages to Iraq

By Lauren Heaton

Thanks to members of a Yellow Springs personal growth group that decided to turn their post-election woes into positive action, over a dozen care packages will be sent to the Middle East this month.

Some will be full of items American troops want, and others will contain necessities to help Iraqi citizens get through what are likely turbulent lives.

Beverly Craig was shaken by the re-election of President Bush, which fueled her fear for the country’s future and for the safety of her son, Reservist Leigh Waltz, who was deployed to Iraq in August. Sharing her feelings with her personal growth group, Craig found that others felt the same frustration and powerlessness over the election and wanted to use the lessons learned from their weekly meetings to turn their anger into action.

“Our feelings of powerlessness galvanized us a bit and bolstered us up to do something positive,” Craig said. “Doing something, we at least feel that we’re contributing, and that takes away the sense of powerlessness.”

The group’s facilitator, Ellen Adkins, helped the group use their concern for their loved ones to mobilize a gift-giving project to troops stationed in Iraq.

But when Craig asked her son what the soldiers in his unit need, he graciously said that anything they could possibly need in the way of “stuff” had already been given by the many generous organizations working to support American troops, Craig recalled.

Waltz’s main concern was for the Iraqi citizens performing general labor under American supervision to rebuild their war-torn country, Craig said. Many Iraqis own just one set of clothes and are happy to get $8 a day to support their families and their flocks of sheep, she said. Because of the insurgency, many humanitarian aid workers have fled the country, leaving ordinary Iraqis to fend for themselves, Craig said.

Waltz asked for interested persons to donate warm, dark clothing that would not be recognizable as American-made because it could put the wearers at risk for sympathizing with the U.S. Iraqi men, women and children need things they can’t buy easily, such as sweaters, hats, scarves, work gloves, shoes and boots, he said.

Feeling called to serve a need, Craig and the other group members put together one package that they shipped to Mosul, where Waltz was stationed, before Thanksgiving. Still feeling they could do more, Craig and Waltz’s fiancé, who lives in Miamisburg, have sent eight more packages, and, Craig said, they will continue to help Iraqis as long as someone is there to accept their donations.

Adkins was so inspired by the group’s project that she also decided to turn her own disappointment with the Nov. 2 election into something positive and help soldiers who might not be as well supplied as Waltz’s unit. She called on a dozen neighbors and friends to do research on what the troops need and to donate games and entertaining gifts to brighten their time away from home.

Phyllis and Ron Schmidt, Joyce and Pat Hemenger, Gary Glaser, Joe Nickoson, Ted and Pat Barker, Paul and Eileen Webb, Claude Hartman, Mark Crockett, Adkins’s husband, Ven, and several others contributed a variety of items, from necessities such as sunscreen, handiwipes and Chapstick, to luxuries and diversions, such as Aveda exfoliants and foot lotions, small puzzles, homemade cookies and granola, beef jerky and nose glasses.

Though Waltz will likely be transferred to a new city soon, a sergeant from his unit is staying behind and will accept packages for the troops and for Iraqis, Craig said.

Adkins is sending her neighborhood package this week, and hopes to continue sending goods for the Iraqis throughout the year, she said.

“This is not about supporting the military, this is about supporting humanity,” she said.

Craig also distinguished between supporting the troops serving overseas and supporting what she called President Bush’s destructive political agenda, which, she noted, some around her consider as the same.

“It’s just so difficult to hear all the rah, rah, rah for the troops, knowing, for so many of us, that includes [support for] Bush,” she said. “People think, I must be supportive of the troops by being supportive of Bush, and that’s just not possible for me.”

Waltz was initially deployed for eight months, but after the election, his chief officer said it could be closer to a year before his unit can return to the U.S., Craig said. So she does what she can to support her son and his concern for the Iraqis he works with, she said.

“I’ve always known my son was a hugely compassionate man and in touch with his feelings of concern for people with less than he has,” Craig said. “And I’ve done nothing but get prouder and prouder of him the longer I know him.”

Anyone wishing to contribute to a care package to Iraq should call Ellen Adkins, 767-1243, or Beverly Craig, 767-8948.