Overwhelming Support

We’ve started to hear back from more and more of the deployed troops who received Channukah care packages. Evidently, the effort was far larger than anyone had imagined.

Jewish troops have been flooded with gifts and treats for the holiday. All the responses I have received (and seen) have been from very grateful service members who were just amazed at how many people at home were thinking about them.

I think this particularly shows that regardless of how much (or little) you can send, it makes a huge difference in that person’s morale.

I sincerely hope that this spirit of giving continues throughout the year. Jews in Green will be planning some more mailings for Purim and Passover, so keep those dates in mind. I’ll post more information on those as we get closer to the holidays.

Read on to see a letter from one of the recipients.

The following is text from a letter from CPT Elizabeth Levitt to Debbie Astor of TheBRAVE, a listserv that did a lot of the leg work for the mailings.

Dear Debbie,

On behalf of the Jewish soldiers, I must have received close to a hundred packages and letters from your subscribers. I can’t thank you enough for the boost of morale your efforts have given my soldiers and our Jewish congregation here. I am no longer the lay leader for FOB Victory, as my mission has taken me out of the area.

Daniel Lostotter is one of the members of our congregation, and I would ask you to go through him for future packages or letters for the Troops. Thank you again for being the link between us and “home.” It will take me a while to get so many thank you notes out to the people who sent us treats. I made two Hannuka displays out here to celebrate and teach the soldiers about our “festival of lights” with many of, gelt, dreidles, and menorahs sent to us. Here are a couple of pictures of that, and of one of the piles of boxes I received and passed on to soldiers and Marines during our mission in Fallujah.

Take care and keep up the good work!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Levitt