BELVIDERE, Ill. (WTVO) — The Belvidere community wanted to make that U.S. Marines knew the stateline was thinking about them this holiday season.
Basic items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors, wool socks, stamps and snacks are needed to fill care packages, and it has become a family tradition for the women behind the effort.
“Help get these guys,” said Sandy Murphy of Adopt a Marine. “Some supplies and, you know, it’s just basic things.. it’s basic things you would like if you were stuck somewhere and you couldn’t go to the grocery store.”
Sending care packages to soldiers overseas is not new for Murphy. Her mother did it for her dad, and she then did it for 15 years for her husband.
Her daughter Samantha Rose is now taking part too.
“We want them not to be forgotten,” Murphy said. “We’ve had too many past military members that have been forgotten, and that hurts.”
The mother-daughter team partnered with “Sgt. P’s Lapghans for Veterans.” The Poplar Grove non-profit donated 115 hand-made blankets to send to the Marines.
Rose’s boyfriend is among those currently deployed, and she said that she is overjoyed with the amount of support they have received.
“I don’t want to just say it means a lot, but it gives me faith in the community,” Rose said. “To know that everyone is helping out people they don’t know.”
Many of these Marines are between 18 and 23-years-old, and it is their first time leaving home. Rose said that to get something they were not expecting means the world to them.
“‘Like what do you want,'” Rose said. “He is like, ‘you can send anything, I don’t care. If I don’t eat it, someone will.'”
The women hope to get a care package to each Marine to open for Christmas.
“We want them to know that whatever job you are doing, whatever mission you are on, we still think about you,” Murphy said.
Murphy and Rose’s goal is to get care packages into the hands of Marines every month until they come home.