01/04/02
Program mails taste of home
By JOHN GITTELSOHN
The Orange County Register
Shaving kits. Candy. Beef jerky. Greeting cards from school kids. Such gifts from the home front have long been a morale booster for American troops serving overseas.
But after the 2001 anthrax scares, the military cut off almost all civilian mail except for e-mail to "any soldier." Now, a group of Southern Californians has revived the old tradition through "Operation Interdependence™."
"I do it for personal fulfillment, just for myself," said Glenna Sweeney, a city of Anaheim secretary who has enlisted students and church friends to mail about 200 letters to Camp Pendleton-based Marines in Kuwait.
In its first 10 months, regional coordinators like Sweeney sent 10 tons of care packages worth about $120,000, said Al Renteria of Fallbrook, founder of Operation Interdependence™ and a veteran of 26 years in the Marines.
Beneficiaries have been Marines in Afghanistan and Kuwait and sailors aboard the San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Constellation. Boxes are already being loaded for members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit leaving Camp Pendleton next week.
Each contribution is hand-inspected and packed in a sealed bag to ensure it is uncontaminated.
"My biggest concern is security, and this is designed to make it hard to send stuff," Renteria said. "I'd rather discourage people than encourage too many."
Emily Sanford of Huntington Beach has coordinated shipments of disposable cameras, chewing gum, playing cards, dice, deodorant and sunscreen as well as personal letters to Marines in the Persian Gulf.
"We haven't gotten a response yet, because we shipped just before Christmas," said Sanford, a retired Navy nurse. "But it makes me feel good, especially to see how many other people want to help."