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Care Packages
Operation Minnesota Nice
Posted: 3/22/05 Operation Minnesota Nice by Joni Astrup Associate editor Once a month, volunteers gather in the basement of the Zimmerman American Legion to pack boxes for soldiers they?ve never met. In a flurry of activity, they fill box after box with a variety of things, ranging from baby wipes and toothpaste to beef jerky and pudding. Many add a personal letter. The boxes are sent to individual soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan who, for a variety of reasons, get little or nothing from home. Volunteers like knowing that they are making soldiers? lives a little brighter. ?That?s all that matters, that they know somebody cares about them,? said Frank Novak, a volunteer from Princeton. The effort is called Operation Minnesota Nice, and it?s the brainchild of Denise Jorgensen of Elk River. ?Six months ago, I just wanted to help a couple of guys,? she said, ?and it?s just kind of taken off on its own. There?s so many people that are so caring and just so generous.? More than 1,400 pounds of items have been sent to soldiers so far, and the movement is growing. Helping a friend It started out simply enough. Jorgensen?s good friend, Vickie Kruse of Decorah, Iowa, has a son serving in Iraq. Being a single parent, Kruse was finding it difficult to send care packages to her son, Ben, on a regular basis and asked her family and friends to help. Jorgensen had known Ben Kruse since he was a little boy living in Becker and signed up to help. She sent her first box to him in May. In return for the help, Vickie regularly updated Jorgensen and others on how her son was doing. Some of those updates still bring tears to Jorgensen?s eyes. ?He was gracious enough to allow her to share exactly what he was saying,? Jorgensen said. ?Often times it was very difficult to hear. It?s difficult for a mom to tell you that her son just told her that he?s OK with dying and if something happens, he loves her. You hear enough of that and suddenly it?s not the little boy you knew. Suddenly, he?s the face of a lot of soldiers.? At one point, Ben Kruse sent an e-mail saying he loved getting all the packages, but some soldiers were getting nothing. He asked them to add some extra to his boxes and he?d start sharing. ?Having a kid his age, I felt horrible for his buddies that didn?t get anything,? Jorgensen said. She decided to do something about it, and asked Ben for the names and addresses of some of those forgotten men and women. She started with just two soldiers. But it soon gained momentum. Friends and family heard about it and wanted to help. A group now meets monthly to pack boxes of items they donate. As Jorgensen watched people gathering for the March meeting, she said, ?I have to tell you, every time I stand in front of one of these groups, I am so humbled and so in much in awe of the generosity of people. Everybody in this room, none of them have anybody in the military. So it?s a nice pairing because you?ve got people that don?t have anyone in the military with soldiers who don?t get anything.? Vickie Kruse traveled to Zimmerman from Iowa earlier this month for the March meeting of Operation Minnesota Nice, where she spoke to the group and thanked the volunteers. She said the care packages are a morale booster. She read an e-mail from her son which said: ?I don?t think people know, when we get motivating packages in the mail like that, we leave the base feeling prouder than we did the day before. Not forgotten. Full of pride. We feel like a respected soldier. People we don?t know send us stuff to make it better. For the most part it isn?t about the stuff. It?s the fact that we still have support.? ?Thanks for saving our world,? child writes Jorgensen?s brother, Frank Novak and his 6-year-old daughter, Kylee, are among the volunteers who help pack and send the boxes each month. ?It?s just cool to be able to help the soldiers,? Novak said. His daughter has taken quite an interest in the operation. She colors pictures for the soldier they adopted and helps pack the boxes. Kylee?s class got in on the action, too, by making cards and writing letters to ?her? soldier. One child wrote, ?Thanks for saving our world.? Jorgensen?s aunt, Vi Spiering of Elk River, said she enjoys putting together the care packages and doing her part to make the soldiers? lives more comfortable. ?I think it?s the most rewarding thing anyone can do,? Spiering said. The group takes requests for items from the soldiers they have adopted. Jorgensen said they once sent an electric blanket to a soldier in Afghanistan with frostbite. They also have filled requests for a rice cooker, fine-point Sharpie pens, eye drops, playing cards, socks and boresnakes for cleaning weapons. Staples going into virtually every box include Easy Mac, tuna, beef jerky and baby wipes. Interest is growing There is a constant turnover of soldiers they adopt, as some come home and others get deployed. More and more soldiers? names are coming in for adoption. And that?s likely to continue. Ben Kruse has asked for permission to post a flier in the USO in Kuwait City for soldiers just arriving who are staged in Kuwait until departing for locations in Iraq. But as the need for more boxes grows, so does the interest in Operation Minnesota Nice. Jorgensen said a unit is forming in St. Cloud. And, Jaycees groups in Shakopee and Hopkins and the Land of Lakes Girl Scout Council are all interested in helping. Locally, new volunteers keep coming to the monthly meetings. Al Graff of Zimmerman and his family attended their first Operation Minnesota Nice meeting earlier this month. He was there with his wife, Sue, and their kids, Allie, 12, and Austin, 9. ?I think it?s a great thing to do, I really do,? Graff said. |
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