Tina Retan, left, Mary Ann Hillery and Andrea Ainslic from Operation Interdependence getting items for care packages to be sent to the troops in Iraq Waldo Nilo

Pala Mesa buys snacks, toiletries for troops
By: TOM PFINGSTEN - Staff Writer

FALLBROOK ---- Aisle 4 was backed up for half an hour at Major Market on Wednesday, as volunteers for a group that mails care packages to troops in Iraq unloaded at least five carts full of supplies onto the conveyer belt.

Banking on the idea that it is the little things that make life more comfortable, the supplies will be sent through Operation Independence, a nonprofit program that distributes packages including items from home and handwritten notes.

The volunteers loaded up on $1,200 worth of beef jerky, protein bars, chewing gum and toiletries, bound for troops overseas whose diets consist mostly of "Meals Ready to Eat," or MREs ---- packaged food often described as less than flavorful.

"Anything that takes the edge off from the mundane food that they get" is likely to make it into one of the Ziploc bags Operation Independence ships out, said the program's organizer, Mary Ann Hillery. "We also send toiletry products, which are a must ---- toothbrushes and socks, even."

Pala Mesa Resort recently raised the money to send supplies to the troops in Iraq; Major Market matched their donation with an offer to sell the items at its own cost.

As the volunteers smiled and posed for a photo, a store manager wielding a 5-foot-long receipt tallied the final results: $1,199 spent, $688 saved.

Earlier, the volunteer shoppers were amazed at how much they were getting for the price.

"We're barely at $520," Pala Mesa's Human Resources Manager, Tina Retana, said after three full grocery carts had already been emptied. "If we had to buy everything at retail price, the dollar wouldn't go as far."

Major Market owner Sam Logan watched as the group moved its full carts through the sliding doors once they were done shopping.

"As long as it's going to the troops, we'll sell it at cost," Logan said. "We've had all kinds of fund-raisers for helicopter troops and Marines. We're blessed with good stores, good community support, and we believe that if we can help the community in return, that's the way the system should work. That's what makes a strong community."

One Fallbrook volunteer, Chris Christopher, estimated that combined with other types of gifts sent out by Operation Independence, the supplies purchased Wednesday would fill packages for as many as 2,000 troops.

"The casinos donate playing cards, so we'll put those in, and people donate CDs and DVDs," Christopher said, adding that the shopping spree was a pleasant diversion from the usual work ---- stuffing baggies at the group's warehouse in Oceanside.

"This is going to be a blessing," he said, watching the clerk scan a box of protein bars.

Retana said the mailing was timed to coincide with the holidays, "Because it's probably one of the hardest times to be in Iraq."

Based on descriptions of life that her husband, a Marine, brought home after his first tour in Iraq, Retana said deployed troops eating American snacks "is like us going out to dinner and having a filet mignon. They just don't have access to this kind of stuff."

To donate supplies or write notes to be distributed to members of the military in Iraq, call Operation Independence at (760) 724-8900.

Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 731-5799 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com.