Julie Dawes, right, and her children Whitney and Casey help to pack treats, games and toiletries through Operation Interdependence.

Photo by: James M. Mohs

Morgan Hill will soon be a center to transfer small care packages to U.S. troops deployed around the world. As a part of his crusade to improve mail service to the troops, Albert Renteria, created Operation Interdependence.

OI collects care packages, called civilian rations, or c-rats, from people and mails them to different units across the world. Each package is sent in a box that fits 50 c-rats. 100 of these boxes are sent to platoons aimed to reach 5,000 people (OI has sent 500,000 packages in a year and a half ). Care packages are items packed into a quart sized zip-lock bag. Items in the bag can include factory sealed food packages, a note, the Sunday comics or other items that will fit in the bag that can’t be tampered with.

Morgan Hill is the newest center to ship out the packages. There is one other center, in Oceanside, site of [Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton]. The center was opened to cut costs of shipment from packages sent from Northern California.

“We’ve cut costs at least 50 percent,” said Renteria, who lives in the Oceanside area of Southern California.

Morgan Hill, however, is still looking for a place to set up shop. Space is donated, but OI hasn’t received any space yet. Until OI finds a permanent home, it [is] temporarily being run [out] of the home of Julie Dawes. Having a local facility is saving her money, Dawes said, only $7.50 per box now versus $60 before.

Dawes, who has been engaged in OI for about two years, said she expects to be in the area for a long time and provide packages on a regular basis.

“We are here for the long term,” Dawes said. “We hope to provide service every month.”

Dawes got involved when she read about the program in a Marine Corps newsletter .

“I sent things to the troops in Vietnam, when I was in high school,” Dawes said. “I always feel very patriotic and felt I needed to support the military - they are doing so much for us.”

Except for her father, who had been a Marine at one time, Dawes does not have family in the military.Renteria, a retired [warrant officer] in the U.S. Marines, worked in the Gulf War working in [manpower and personnel] and found many items sent from home were not reaching the troops.

The problem, he identified, was the Marines and other military personnel were not trained to be mail carriers, but soldiers. As a result, items from home were either late getting to their destination if at all. Renteria decided to change the process he would centralize everything and not personalize the packages. In December of 2001, he tested his program on infantry on a limited basis. After seeing success with infantry, he moved up to expeditionary units where his success continued.

Now, OI sends out half a million packages from centers from 10 other centers across the country. To create a care package, visit www.oidelivers.org and fill out a registration form. The request will be routed to the nearest center.

“It doesn’t matter where you are in the country,” Dawes said.

There is also information on exactly what items can be placed in the packages. Registering on line is OI’s first line of defense, Dawes said to ensure nothing harmful can be sent to the troops.

“Everybody must be registered,” Dawes said. “This is out first line of security.”

All packages are then inspected before being sent out. To further their efforts, OI was awarded a Paul Newman grant from the Department of Defense. Renteria also has applied for another grant totaling $1 million. If he is awarded the money, he must raise double the funds as a stipulation.

For details or to donate: www.oidelivers.org

Cheeto Barrera is an intern at the Morgan Hill Times, he can be reached at cbarrera@morganhilltimes.com