dunkin
12-27-2005, 09:14 AM
Saw this today, and just had to share it.
'He's ours'
• Powell ladies 'adopt' forgotten soldier
By JUSTIN R. LESSMAN
Tribune News Editor
He was the friend of the daughter of a co-worker's acquaintance. A faceless first name. Another soldier overseas.
Until a group of Powell ladies got hold of him.
"We didn't even know his last name," said Barb Janke of Cpl. Nathaniel Wisel, a 20-year-old Marine from Indiana currently serving his country in Iraq. Janke and a baker's dozen of her colleagues at Practice Management Associates in Powell first heard of the soldier from co-worker Connie Kent. Kent, good friends with Minka DeBock of Powell, learned of Wisel through DeBock's daughter, Sandy, who is also stationed in Iraq. "Connie said Sandy and all the members of her unit receive lots of packages from back home all the time," said Marcie Hobbs. "All except one."
News that there was a soldier overseas who had never received a package in the mail traveled through the office like wildfire, Hobbs said, and "about broke our hearts." But instead of sitting around feeling sorry for the forgotten soldier, the ladies at PMA decided to do something about it.
"We pretty much adopted him," said Karen Coombs.
Every two weeks, a brown cardboard box is filled with goodies and mailed half-way around the world to Wisel, courtesy of the PMA gang. Janke said everybody pitches in. "We just all bring things in as we see them — just simple things he can leave behind if he needs to leave in a hurry," Janke said. Included in the three packages shipped thus far have been games, books, notes, even a little Christmas tree. And cookies. "He likes cookies," said Charissa Johnston.
Word from Iraq is that the adopted soldier got pretty fired up when he walked into the barracks one day and saw a package — his first — setting on his bed. "We heard that when he received the first package from us, he ran around, jumping up and down, he was so excited," Johnston said.
The ladies of PMA were pretty excited themselves when a letter came back from their soldier thanking them for their kindness and generosity.
"I want to say thank you for the package," Wisel wrote while on duty Nov. 28. "Before this deployment, I would have never guessed that there are people willing to spend time and money on something for someone they don't even know." In the letter, cherished and read often at the Powell office, the young Marine goes on to tell a little about himself, his story, his job, his ambitions, his likes, his dislikes, his feelings, his fears. He will spend his birthday, Christmas and New Year's Day at war, faced with danger, but filled with pride and courage. "That comes with the job," he wrote. "I would never give it up."
His adopted caregivers in Powell respect the young man they have never met, care about him, worry about him. But they say they are just glad to be able to help out. "It's kind of cool for us to be able to do this — to be able to help out, even if it's just in a small way," Coombs said.
How long will the young soldier continue to receive twice-monthly boxes of cheer from a little city in northwestern Wyoming? "As long as he's over there," Johnston said. Coombs and the other ladies at PMA agree.
"As long as he's there doing that for us, he'll keep getting packages," she said. "Until he comes back home, he's ours."
link: http://www.powelltribune.com/news5.htm
'He's ours'
• Powell ladies 'adopt' forgotten soldier
By JUSTIN R. LESSMAN
Tribune News Editor
He was the friend of the daughter of a co-worker's acquaintance. A faceless first name. Another soldier overseas.
Until a group of Powell ladies got hold of him.
"We didn't even know his last name," said Barb Janke of Cpl. Nathaniel Wisel, a 20-year-old Marine from Indiana currently serving his country in Iraq. Janke and a baker's dozen of her colleagues at Practice Management Associates in Powell first heard of the soldier from co-worker Connie Kent. Kent, good friends with Minka DeBock of Powell, learned of Wisel through DeBock's daughter, Sandy, who is also stationed in Iraq. "Connie said Sandy and all the members of her unit receive lots of packages from back home all the time," said Marcie Hobbs. "All except one."
News that there was a soldier overseas who had never received a package in the mail traveled through the office like wildfire, Hobbs said, and "about broke our hearts." But instead of sitting around feeling sorry for the forgotten soldier, the ladies at PMA decided to do something about it.
"We pretty much adopted him," said Karen Coombs.
Every two weeks, a brown cardboard box is filled with goodies and mailed half-way around the world to Wisel, courtesy of the PMA gang. Janke said everybody pitches in. "We just all bring things in as we see them — just simple things he can leave behind if he needs to leave in a hurry," Janke said. Included in the three packages shipped thus far have been games, books, notes, even a little Christmas tree. And cookies. "He likes cookies," said Charissa Johnston.
Word from Iraq is that the adopted soldier got pretty fired up when he walked into the barracks one day and saw a package — his first — setting on his bed. "We heard that when he received the first package from us, he ran around, jumping up and down, he was so excited," Johnston said.
The ladies of PMA were pretty excited themselves when a letter came back from their soldier thanking them for their kindness and generosity.
"I want to say thank you for the package," Wisel wrote while on duty Nov. 28. "Before this deployment, I would have never guessed that there are people willing to spend time and money on something for someone they don't even know." In the letter, cherished and read often at the Powell office, the young Marine goes on to tell a little about himself, his story, his job, his ambitions, his likes, his dislikes, his feelings, his fears. He will spend his birthday, Christmas and New Year's Day at war, faced with danger, but filled with pride and courage. "That comes with the job," he wrote. "I would never give it up."
His adopted caregivers in Powell respect the young man they have never met, care about him, worry about him. But they say they are just glad to be able to help out. "It's kind of cool for us to be able to do this — to be able to help out, even if it's just in a small way," Coombs said.
How long will the young soldier continue to receive twice-monthly boxes of cheer from a little city in northwestern Wyoming? "As long as he's over there," Johnston said. Coombs and the other ladies at PMA agree.
"As long as he's there doing that for us, he'll keep getting packages," she said. "Until he comes back home, he's ours."
link: http://www.powelltribune.com/news5.htm