SPOKANE, Wash. — Hundreds of community members gathered in a church gym to fill 510 care packages to send to troops overseas.
People and businesses from all around Spokane donated items like mugs, Girl Scout cookies, toiletries, books and granola bars. On Saturday morning, many of them came together to fill boxes and write letters to send to troops spending the holiday season outside of the U.S.
Dawn Worrall has been organizing these packing events for five years through the 300 Boodle Brigade. It’s a national organization that parents of U.S. Military Academy students started as many of their children were preparing for deployment.
Every year, the organization sends thousands of care packages to military men and women. They also send hand-written letters from people around the community.
When Worrall wanted to get more involved with the brigade, she started a Spokane chapter.
“I’m thinking as a person in the community who wants to draw people together and help the people who are away from their parents and families and children,” she said.
Warroll said she has a personal connection to this year’s event, since her son just graduated and will be deploying soon. She said it’s a rewarding feeling - seeing so many people give back to the people who serve this country.
“Yes, I’m doing this because I care about my child, but I also really love the response from people in this city,” she said. “People’s lives will be different, because they will feel like they are cared about.”
Volunteers stuffed all of the boxes into a mail truck, and the packages will ship around the world to countries like Afghanistan and Kuwait. This big packing event happens once a year, but the brigade sends out packages all throughout the year.
If you would like to donate or help with these events, you can sign up to volunteer on the organization’s Facebook page at 300 Boodle Brigade – Spokane.