MLK Day 2010

ELDER SERVICES, INC. RSVP program began a letter writing and small gift project to connect area residents to local deployed soldiers on Martin Luther King Day January 17, 2011.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?” Each year, Americans across the country answer that question by coming together on the King Holiday to serve their neighbors and communities. The MLK Day of Service is a part of United We Serve, President Obama's national call to service initiative. This is a call for all Americans from all walks of life to work together to provide solutions to our most pressing national problems.

On January 17, Elder Services, Inc. RSVP in partnership with the West Liberty Treats for Troops project invited volunteers to the Iowa City Public Library to write letters and/or contribute small gift items connecting deployed military with supporters in Iowa. Volunteers came in the ice and daylong snow to write letters to soldiers they did not know personally. However, in their hearts they knew them well enough to extend their heartfelt thanks. Kirkwood professors, retired Iowa City teachers, mothers with children, older adults, and University of Iowa students all wrote 232 thank you notes. Volunteers joined together for a common cause, to express thanks to Iowa soldiers serving in Afghanistan. Some volunteers were originally from Mexico, Venezuela, and Indonesia. One volunteer related she was adopted from South Korea.

Volunteers shared that they were writing from Iowa on a snowy day and described their background of work or hobbies. Some volunteers shared their memories of past and present family members who served in World War I or II, Korea or Vietnam while keeping the message positive.
“Dear Soldier, Countryman, friend, neighbor, child, grandchild, nephew or niece and beloved human being,
You are very courageous and a precious member of our society. I hope you know that we are acutely aware of your defending us from the situation presented to us. My Dad worked in the Brooklyn Naval Yard during WW II ... Please know that I wish you All Blessings and All Good Things and want you to come home safe and sound and that we love you.
I attribute the beauty of life to the work of those who get things done! People of action are the driving force behind success.
Thank you all for protecting what is so dear to my heart. I was adopted when I was 10 from South Korea. I have a lot of pride for all of you. Please know there is a stranger in Iowa, but a fellow human being never the less, who loves and thanks you with all her heart. Your sacrifice is not forgotten. ”

One 12 year old wanted her letter to go to a “girl soldier”.

One had a Desert Storm Pen Pal...

The Kirkwood teachers remarked they were happy to do “one of the best things they have done for MLK Day”. Many have taught veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan in their classrooms.

Ten boxes of simple everyday items were also collected for the troops, as there are few PX stores in Afghanistan. Often troops might be on 3-4 day missions and need small, useful items in their back packs. Suggested items were new and in original packaging including:
beef jerky, hard candy, individual instant coffee/hot chocolate/tea packets, individual packages of cereal, trail mix, protein bars, pretzels, mixed nuts, gum, travel size baby wipes, toothpaste, body wash, liquid soap, eye drops, nasal spray, Tylenol, razors, batteries, tube socks, long underwear, playing cards, and yo-yos. These were items listed in the Treats for Troops, a 7 year project ongoing in West Liberty, Iowa.

Elder Services’ RSVP began a letter writing and small gift item project to connect our deployed military with those who care about and support them here in Iowa. We joined Lee Gertz and Jeanine Martin in West Liberty, who have been organizing troop projects for 7 years. This year is particularly important since nine of their own young men from West Liberty are deployed to Afghanistan through the Iowa National Guard. One of those men is the son of an Elder Services’ employee which makes this project very special. In addition to the West Liberty residents, approximately 2,700 troops from Iowa left for Afghanistan in November 2010.

Thanks to Dale Simon who publicized the event to the professors at Kirkwood Community College.