Local church seeks donations to support local military personnel

Jean Rhode says her son Cody, who is serving with the Marines in Iraq, enjoys receiving care packages. “Anything that reminds him of home,” she said. Jean has sent many items in care packages and uses The Advance as packing material. She crumbles them up and fills up every last bit of space in the box. Jean learned recently that Cody turns around and straightens the paper to read it and find out the latest happenings in his hometown. Needless to say, men and women in the service enjoy receiving care packages.

It’s for that reason a local church is organizing an effort to send care packages to anyone from the area serving in the military. “Sounds like a wonderful thing,” said Jean Rhode, when she was told of the intentions of the Secret Sisters of Peace Lutheran Church. Rhode said her son is expected home in March, so she isn’t sending anything at the moment, but she knows, based on the reactions from her son, that others will appreciate it.

THE SECRET SISTERS will be mailing care packages full of food, hygiene products, clothing, batteries, reading material, and other items to just make life away from home a little more bearable. Over the next three weeks, the Secret Sisters will be collecting the names of as many service people as possible and soliciting donations for a long list of suggested items that range from playing cards, instant coffee and eye drops to beef jerky.

“It’s not just food things, but it’s also things that they need on a daily basis,” said Sandy Ruttan of Rogers City, who is a member of the 60-member church group. “Our goal is to hopefully obtain enough items that when we send out a care package to one of our local boys or girls, that they would be able to share it with their entire battalion or group,” said Ruttan. She believes the more the community gets involved in the effort, the more successful the program will be. Care packages will be mailed March 21.

“IT

DOESN’T MATTER if they are stateside or if they are stationed overseas, because anytime you take a young person and you displace them from their family and what’s familiar to them, any touch from home is nice,” said Ruttan. Those knowing someone in the military who the Secret Sisters can send a care package to, mail the address to: Sandy Ruttan, P.O. Box 54, Rogers City, Michigan, 49779. Donations can be dropped off during a Secret Sisters “Hearts in Tune” luncheon Saturday at 11 a.m. at Peace Lutheran Church, 1401 M-68 Highway. The church will remain a dropoff location until March 15.

Donations also will be accepted by Katie Fairbanks, 734-7481; Linda Knopf, 734-3061; Mary Gledhill, 595-6891; and Ruttan, 734-3369 or 734-4030. Monetary donations will be accepted to help defray the cost of pocket-sized Armed Forces devotional booklets that cost $4.99 each. Checks should be made payable to Peace Lutheran Church. The Secret Sisters also will be distributing letters of encouragement with the packages.

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