Posted on 09/22/2005 4:51:59 PM PDT by SandRat
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Sept. 22, 2005) -- Just about anywhere you look these days, yellow ribbons and bumper stickers adorn vehicles across the country indicating Americans support for their military.
However, some patriots like Kristen M. Maddox, 21, from Santa Ana, Calif., chose to do a little more in order to express her gratitude of servicemembers job overseas.
Not content with several programs which claim to aid those deployed in foreign countries, Maddox decided to take matters into her own hands and concentrate instead on the specific needs of those who serve through her program HOT, or Helping Our Troops.
“They e-mail their requests to us, we purchase whatever they want and then ship the items directly to their address overseas,” said Maddox. “I do my best to find exactly what they request and only once have I been unsuccessful in obtaining a specific item.”
From chili pepper Christmas lights for those celebrating the holidays in distant lands to obscure childhood films, the full-time university student claims she will go out of her way to accommodate each request.
After becoming frustrated with charities that claim to spend all proceeds on the troops and hearing about a large surplus of donated items that never get used, Maddox decided that she would concentrate on sending only stuff that was worth its weight in gold overseas.
“Under Armor shirts and Thorlo socks are a popular commodity in Iraq,” said Maddox. “Marines are surprised when they get packages full of stuff they will actually use.”
While the young supporter manages full-time courses at California Polytechnic Institute at Pomona, she has shifted her focus more on getting the program underway financially and mailing out as many packages to Marines, sailors, airmen and soldiers as possible.
By managing anywhere from 50 requests for products a week, Maddox is amazed with what speed the United States Postal Service packages are delivered. Within five days of shipment, servicemembers were enjoying puffing on cigars in Iraq.
“When you hear the responses from people who get the items, it makes it totally worth all the hard work,” Maddox said with a heartfelt smile.
After donating nearly $5,000 of her own savings to HOT, she continues to charge ahead and plans to shift her focus more on the program, which has only existed since the beginning of the year.
This is not the only time Maddox has contributed her two cents to helping others.
“She was the three-year-old putting band-aids on snails and Neosporin on lizards,” claims her mother, Madeline R. Maddox. “From the moment she said, ‘I want to do something for the troops’, I knew she was serious.”
Maddox maintains contact through emails and phone calls with servicemembers overseas and has received much feedback according to her website.
One of the units serving in Iraq, Maintenance Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 8, praised Maddox for all her hard work.
“We really appreciated the items received and the best part was getting to hand-select the things we wanted.”
For contributions and to find out how others can help, Maddox provides the following website: www.helpingourtoops.com.
PING
http://www.helpingourtroops.com/
Yours was misspelled :o)
That's an awesome thing she's doing! Thanks for this article, I'll be sure to pass it around!
BTTT
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