Cherokee High School peer leaders Brett Gable, Brett Chiesa, Kelly Walters, Samantha Pharis, De’Anna Findley, Karime Sargado, Trent Waraksa and Morgan Shank serve breakfast on March 8 sponsored by the Marlton Rotary Club, whose members are behind the students.
Young soldiers serving in the Middle East can be scared during warfare and a bit homesick.
But for the past 13 years, care packages from home have brightened their days, especially after a tough battle. Operation Yellow Ribbon (OYR) of South Jersey volunteers have packed up more than 20,000 packages – weighing in at 700,000 pounds – to send a piece of home to a distant military base.
While the operation may have to shut down this year, there was a lot of energy during the Marlton Rotary Club pancake breakfast on March 8 at Wiley Mission on Main Street.
“What a great turnout,” said club president Chuck Childers, as he watched people enjoy eggs, pancakes and breakfast meats.
“This is our seventh year partnering with Operation Yellow Ribbon,” Childers noted. “The proceeds from this event will not only support our local community – such as scholarships for Cherokee High School students through Rotary – but also benefit and support our troops defending our freedom overseas.”
Serving breakfast were Cherokee High Peer Leaders, including Brett Gable, Brett Chiesa, Kelly Walters, Samantha Pharis, De’Anna Findley, Karime Sargado, Trent Waraksa and Morgan Shank.
“We are very proud of the Peer Leaders group,” Childers boasted. “They do a great job.”
Childers also thanked the Wiley Mission for hosting the breakfast and the many businesses and organizations that were sponsors, as well as the work of Marci Wolfe, Peter Bertheaud, Eileen Childers and Anna Marie Basanas, who put together a silent auction.
Operation Yellow Ribbon founder David Silver was thrilled by how many people showed up, and greatly appreciated the help of the Rotary Club.
“The club has been a blessing,” he said, “and has supported us for nearly a decade.”
Silver said OYR – which consists of 15 “selfless volunteers” – sends care packages to troops in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa.
“It is a real morale booster for an 18- or 19-year-old to get a package from home,” he explained. “We call it hugs in a box.”
Popular items for the soldiers include Tastykakes, snacks, Girl Scout cookies, new socks and hygiene products. OYR also organizes welcome-home celebrations when troops return home from an overseas deployment.
“It is very fulfilling,” acknowledged Silver, who has a storage container full of thank-you letters from soldiers all over a wall. But the care packages may stop soon.
“It is with a heavy heart, but yet one filled with utter gratitude, that the all-volunteer … nonprofit Operation Yellow Ribbon will be winding down its ‘morale-boosting care package business’ operations over the months to come,” Silver lamented.
“The heavy heart is because we know that our brave U.S. service members deployed to the Middle East and fighting the war on terror still need love and support from home,” he added, “but we are no longer able to keep up with the demand for care packages, coupled with the constant rising price of everything, including purchasing care-package items, USPS postage costs, rent and insurance.”
For now, the organization will continue as a nonprofit just in case the miracle blessing of a very large financial donation happens.
“Volunteers from Operation Yellow Ribbon will continue to surprise and welcome home our returning local South Jersey service members, along with the Warriors Watch Riders and other patriotic motorcycle groups, local towns and first responders,” Silver emphasized.
“Nothing will be changing in partnering to coordinate and facilitate welcome-home celebrations.”
To help keep the care-package program going, visit https://www.operationyellowribbon.org/make-a-financial-donation/.
