‘We Hope This is an Ongoing Endeavor’

One North Carolina VFW Post found a creative way to aid active-duty military personnel before deployment.

Post 1142 and its Auxiliary in North Wilkesboro recently partnered with the United Service Organizations (USO), a non-profit dedicated to supporting military personnel and their families throughout the entirety of their service. The Post and Auxiliary members made it their goal to fill and donate more than 600 bags of snacks and personal hygiene items to be delivered to Marines.

Hope Raney, wife of Post 1142 Commander Brian Raney, and Maebelle Nance, wife of Post 1142 member Tim Nance, volunteered to lead the project, which involved reaching out to nearby USO centers in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina.

A total of 66 hours was spent packing each of the 618 bags, which included food items such as Slim Jims, powdered drink mixes, ramen, trail mix, gum, granola bars and instant soup. Personal hygiene items, which were packed in separate bags, included disposable razors, wet wipes, foot powder, toothbrushes, toothpaste, zip lock bags and hand sanitizer.

According to Raney, along with the bagged donations, the Post also donated 400 containers of sunscreen.

Raney and Maebelle saw both monetary support and volunteerism from Post members and the local North Wilkesboro community.

"This is an important way for the VFW and Auxiliary to support those serving in the military," Raney said. "It boosts the service members' morale and lets them know that there are people who care about them and are praying for them."

After the bags were filled, Raney and Maebelle delivered 300 donations to the Raleigh USO Center at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Sept. 1, just before the Marines departed. The Post delivered the remaining 318 bags to the Charlotte USO Center on Sept. 15.

Raney plans to turn this donation event into a quarterly affair, with plans to make another delivery to the USO centers in December.

"Post 1142 and its Auxiliary hope the partnership with USO is an ongoing endeavor," Raney said. "We would like to be able to continue to work with the community and possibly other Posts to donate even more in the future."