Christmas packages ready to ship out
Electronic package - Play Station 2, DVD player, movies and games	Footballs, Soccer Balls, Checkers and Chess
Stephanie packing it up
	Tim and Kevin McKenna

12/23/05
Check out how Art has played Santa in Iraq.  Also, I received a letter of thanks from MAJ Juan Rosas in the mail expressing his heartfelt and sincere thanks to all of us for the packages.  Merry Christmas!
 

To everyone at Pack It Up,

I was on a mission to find the right group of soldiers who not only deserved but earned all of the treats you sent to us. The entire Rhode Island group here agreed that we would pass everything on to others who did not have it as comfortable as we did. Yesterday, we found them. There is this small operation in the northwest of Iraq that is a bit outside of the normal distribution lines that are set up in most of the country. On our initial contact with personnel at this base, I asked how the Christmas treat supply was stocking up. The response came back that they didn't have a Christmas treat supply. Zero. We responded that Santa had just arrived and we told them to meet our airplane. About 25 troops soon appeared. The enclosed picture doesn't show that many because the remainder of them were already going about the business of opening some of the other boxes.

I can tell you this. They were stunned by the generosity of those who made this possible and incredibly thankful to you all for organizing the effort. This is a group of great Americans. Their Christmas party will be in all of your honor. We were honored that we could pass on your expression of gratitude and deep concern for all that take part in this military operation. You can rest well this Christmas knowing that you did the right thing. You brought much happiness to a very hard working group of people that deserve happiness. Your dedication to this cause is heroic. We can't say thank you all enough.

Please pass on our Christmas greetings to everyone in your families.

From all of the deployed Rhode Island Guard this Christmas 2005, we say,
THANK YOU and MERRY CHRISTMAS.
Your Friend,
Art

Second from the left with the headset is SSgt Joe Maker. He is from Warwick. He really did an outstanding job helping to handle all of the packages. Real good kid who was 100% behind the project.
 

12/19/05
All 32 of our packages have been received.  Check out the emails from our contacts:  Dan, Art and Brett

Our donations continue to grow (we've topped $15,000) thanks to Relational, LLC in Boston.  Personal donations from Relational have totaled more than $1,000 and we hear more may be on the way.  Thank you!

Just 7 hours ago, Laurie Ludovici (our former contact) and 100 members of the 1/126th Aviation Unit arrived in Quonset Point RI.  They had been in Iraq for fourteen months, since October 2004.  Welcome home!

Here are the emails.  They are worth your time:
From Daniel Curran
Dear Kristin,

I received your holiday packages over the past couple of days, and the first word that comes to mind is overwhelmed. This is truly amazing and beyond anything I could have possibly imagined. I am not nearly smart enough to put into words my expressions of gratitude. With each box that I opened, my excitement (I am a little embarrassed to reveal) grew and those of my whole office for that matter. We truly were like kids on Christmas morning.

I have received I believe all of the individual Christmas bags (stockings). I plan on holding off a few more days on passing them out to the individual sections. I am hoping to do it a few days before Christmas so everyone can have a little something to open up on Christmas morning. I am also going to pass out the letters from the school kids in the section boxes to share with everyone. I will be personally writing to Ms Auger’s First Grade Class.

Many of the soldiers here have expressed the desire to send you personal thank you notes, I however asked that they allow me to express their appreciation; I know that you asked for a single POC for this project and thought that you might not want to get a bunch of emails.

I have to tell you that the Athletic Equipment and Movies were a huge success. When I pulled out the Soccer Ball a couple of guys actually yelled out “YES!” and the footballs were being tossed around the office for most of the afternoon. The movies were going like hotcakes. People were commenting with statements like “this is one of my favorites, I have got to see this”. My intent with those is to use them like a library, people can borrow them and return them for others to use. Additionally, the previous unit here had what they called a movie night; I am going to try to start that up for us. We have a Flat screen that I think I can hook up the DVD player during our off / down time and maybe do something once or so a week. My intent is to do the same thing with the play station, although, I think they may have to wrestle the controls out of my hands in order to get a chance to use it.

Finally, and on the personal side, I want to especially thank you, I am not normally a “Christmas Spirit” kind of guy, even back home. However, through your good will and allowing me to act as you representative, I have seen you bring a lot of smiles and joy to the soldiers here, and even if it is a little on the corny side, it really has made me feel good to do it. So, thank you, it may have been an unintended gift you have given me, but it is one that I will never forget.

Merry Christmas to you and all of yours, and I wish you a joyful and wondrous New Year.

Dan

From Brett Dreyer:
I just got another package and I have to apologize for not thanking you earlier but I've been real busy with the upcoming elections on the 15th. Everything is great and is very much appreciated. You send a lot of snacks so I had to share with everybody who wanted something. There is no way I could finish all this before I get to come home in a few weeks. What my buddies and I didn't finish from the first package I will give out to the Iraqi kids cause they are always begging us for chocolate. Thanks again for all your support.
Brett

From Art Floru:
Kristin,

You are amazing. Those that are helping you with this are amazing. For the last few days, your packages have been arriving. The contents of the packages are fantastic but the effort behind them is just overwhelming. Beyond our most heartfelt THANK YOU, I don't even know what to say anymore.

I will write you when we complete the mission but this is the plan for all of the packages. Tomorrow, we are doing the countrywide shuttle with offloads at five different locations in Iraq. The conditions at our base are very comfortable. Others in Iraq do not have it as good. We have decided to spread the holiday cheer all over Iraq to our brothers and sisters at some of the more remote sites. Of course the Bruins hat has already been flying with us so ownership of it remains with me. I passed out the first box of goodies Friday night in Kirkuk and four people called us on the radio to say thank you. I told them your name and over the radio we heard, "Thank You Kristin Struck." You made the airwaves in Iraq. You're famous now and I have a feeling by Christmas morning, many of America's finest will be offering you their thanks as well.

Your efforts provide us with a great reminder that it is actually Christmas. Our group seems to be doing very well and like I said, this base is really comfortable. This is a great group to deploy with and three of us were together for Desert Storm the first time around in 1991. We are doing our best to make it feel like Christmas. Sasha continues to ask why I went flying without her and wants to know if I'll take her skiing. I can hardly wait. Anna looks completely different already. I miss my girls.

I'll finish by saying thank you on behalf of everyone here. Please pass that on to everyone involved with this project. Merry Christmas to you and your family. I'll write you Tuesday when we finish Santa's delivery. I'll send some pictures also.

Merry Christmas,

Art