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Sending some love overseas
Women send well wishes, care packages to soldiers in Iraq

By NICOLE MOORADIAN

Colonel John Aulbach, U.S. Army, shares gifts from his care package with children in a war torn area overseas.
Photo contributed by ELLEN MARTIN

Pictures of servicemen and women adorn the walls of Rockbridge County Regional Library as part of a project spearheaded by two women to put a face on local soldiers serving in Iraq and elsewhere overseas.

The exhibit, which was originally on display at Joyful Spirit Café and the Maury River Senior Center, consists of portraits of service personnel as well as photographs taken in Iraq. The two women, Rockbridge County residents Ellen Martin and Collette Barry-Rec, have also posted letters from the soldiers thanking Barry-Rec for her care packages.

Also framed on the wall is a message to the community, explaining that the exhibit not only supports each soldier, but also the soldier’s family.

“It’s my way of saying we know their son or daughter or husband or wife is serving abroad,” Martin said. “We want to be able to speak to them and say, ‘I know your family is not with you and we wish you all well.’ We wanted to thank them for their service.”

Barry-Rec agreed. “I have had several soldiers tell me that they bond so deeply with their buddies that they become a family,” she said. “They feel bad for their family at home.”

Before the two women put the exhibit together, they each worked on their own to recognize troops abroad.

Originally, Martin planned to send disposable cameras to Iraq so the soldiers could take pictures and send them home. But troops could not find time to use the first one she sent. Then she teamed up with Barry-Rec, who had been sending care packages to service personnel.

Martin said she decided she wanted to “do something” to recognize Rockbridge County servicemen and women serving abroad, as well as their families.

The two women met outside Kroger, where Barry-Rec had been collecting donations to include in her care packages.

A year or so before, Barry-Rec had independently decided she “really wanted to do something to help” the soldiers in Iraq. She started by sending care packages to one friend’s son. She now supports 14 soldiers.

Four hundred and seventeen care packages later, Barry-Rec continues her mission to send Rockbridge County troops reminders of home.

“It’s like I have 14 new children, most of whom I’ve never met,” she said. “[But] I don’t need to meet them because I write to them and I get lots of thank-you notes back, which is very inspiring.”

Some items in her care packages are standard, such as letters and magazines, but the soldiers also have specific requests.

“I had a soldier call me from Iraq a couple of weeks ago,” Barry-Rec said. “[He wanted] shampoo that didn’t make him smell like a girl.”

Two of the soldiers she supports are women. She enjoys putting an extra effort into their care packages by decorating the boxes or including stuffed animals.

“I send soft toilet paper,” she said. “I try and spruce up the boxes with girly things just for fun.”