Boxing up bits of home

With shaving cream here and mixed nuts there, and socks to fill the nooks and crannies, about three dozens boxes are being shipped out today to troops in Afghanistan.

The boxes were the project of the Professional Business Leaders club at the Clarkston branch of Walla Walla Community College with the help of students in the Asotin and Clarkston school districts and the Strain-Miller-Landkammer Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2351 at Pomeroy.

The VFW post donated $400 to pay for shipment of the boxes, said Amanda Gustafson, a WWCC student.

It started when a veteran of the war in Afghanistan talked to students about what the troops need and what makes them feel good when a box arrives from home.

Club members started with a list provided by the military and added some of their own ideas to ensure a variety of items, Gustafson said.

Decorated collection boxes were placed in various school district locations and at businesses that offered to participate. WWCC students picked up items about once a week, sometimes more often when donations overflowed their containers.

Then about two dozen people gathered to stuff the mailing boxes with hygiene products, Goldfish crackers, word puzzles, music, movies and handwarmers.

They will be mailed at 12:45 this afternoon at the Clarkston Post Office to Stryker Brigade Chaplain Chad Cannon at Forward Operating Base Frontenac for distribution.

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Lee may be contacted at slee@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.