Sponsors sought to help a platoon
Nov 23, 2009 - 11:34 AM
By Keith Gilligan
DURHAM -- About 30 sponsors are still needed to ensure Canadian soldiers "on the outskirts of nowhere" get to celebrate Christmas.
Whitby resident Diane Temple is again running the Stocking for a Soldier campaign, hoping to fill stockings for two platoons of Canadian troops serving in Afghanistan. That's 79 soldiers and she has sponsors for 49, she says.
She ran the campaign last year when her son Andrew Grieve was stationed at a forward operating base about six hours from Kandahar.
Following his tour, Andrew retired from the forces, she said.
"We got him back on Mother's Day. It's my turn to help other moms and boys," Ms. Temple said.
"For the morale of the soldiers. From my son, I know what they go through. They are on the outskirts of nowhere. It lets them know they are thought about," Ms. Temple says as to why she runs the campaign.
"It's important they know people want to help," she noted. "People want to help, but they don't know how. I know how to help."
The stockings are actually a 3-x-2-foot box. "They're huge."
Items can include personal toiletries, socks, food such as Kraft Dinner, crackers and peanut butter, and toys. "All personal things and morale things."
The average age of the soldiers is between 18 and 25. "That's why we put in toys. They're kids. Last year, my son's platoon set up the Hot Wheels tracks and spent two hours playing it. It took their mind away from everything," Ms. Temple said.
"Time is of the essence. I started late this year," she said.
The stockings need to be filled by Nov. 28, as it takes three weeks for them to be shipped to Afghanistan.
Stockings cost between $175 and $200 to fill.
Each sponsor is given the first name of the soldier receiving the stocking, so they can write an accompanying letter.
Students at Sir William Stephenson Public School in Whitby are writing a card to each soldier receiving a stocking, she said. "That's really nice."
For more information or to sponsor a soldier, call Ms. Temple at 905-665-7537.
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