BLUEFIELD, WV (WOAY) – The deployed U.S. troops wait on standby as tensions between Russia and Ukraine continue to build. People and organizations around the country prepare for the threat, too.
In Bluefield, Drive for the Deployed, an organization supporting service members out of the Immanuel Lutheran Church held a care packing day for the deployed men and women.
“We want our troops to know that while the future is uncertain on a worldwide scale, we have their back no matter what, that’s one constant they can rely on, is that we here in Southern West Virginia and South West Virginia will be here for them no matter what,” says Chairman of the Board of Directors for Drive for the Deployed, Elise Bowling.
The packages will be going to six different undisclosed locations the personnel is stationed in around the world, and will serve several branches of the military.
Grant’s Supermarket, a sponsor of the event, helped to provide healthy snacks and sweet treats within each of the packages. Along with providing nourishment for the troops, Grant’s Marketing Manager, Pam Carter hopes they will bring the soldiers comfort in these uncertain times.
“You never realize the things they miss,” Carter says.
“They miss their families, they miss their homes, and I’m sure they miss the little things like walking in the kitchen and finding macaroni and cheese or chocolate or whatever. And that’s not something special for us, but it really is for them, so I hope that when they get this little bit of home it will give them comfort and know that we’re here for them,” she says.
Chocolate was one of the many treats the packages included, a specialty for this time of year as it’s the only time it won’t melt on the trip overseas.
This has been the first major care packing day the organization has gotten to have in two years after the onset of COVID-19 slowed down the cause.
