When Susanna Blanchard began collecting supplies to send toLouisiana soldiers in Iraq a year and a half ago, she did notexpect it to grow into such a large-scale project.
“It sort of spread across the nation,” Blanchard said.
Blanchard called her organization “Supplies for Soldiers” andwas met with bounding enthusiasm in the beginning, Blanchard said,but soon involvement began to dwindle.
“It seems like everyone kind of forgot that we had men overseas,fighting for our freedom,” Blanchard said.
When Blanchard’s husband was sent to Iraq May 15, sherevitalized the project.
There are currently more than 4000 Louisiana soldiers stationedin Iraq until November 2005.
Blanchard picks up donated supplies from a United Postal Servicebox and keeps them in a storage unit. She uses all supplies donatedto put together care packages for the soldiers and lets theirfamilies help pack them.
Each Louisiana soldier receives two care packages per month.
Since starting the project, Blanchard has sent more than 30,000boxes to Iraq.
On her Web site, www.suppliesforsoldiers.org, Blanchard hasposted a “wish list” of supplies soldiers have requested, as wellas addresses and other contact information.
Soldiers can request packages through the Web site.
The wish list includes everything from cookies to toothbrushesto clothing to chapstick.
Blanchard said, while University organizations were enthusiasticand eager to help at first, there is virtually no participation asof late.
“At first, everyone was so excited about it, but now it seemsthat everybody has forgotten that we still have so many men overthere,” Blanchard said.
This lack of participation is surprising, considering the numberof University students and graduates overseas, Blanchard said.
There are other ways to help besides donating items from thewish list, Blanchard said.
Monetary donations are accepted to help pay for postage. Thecost of postage alone for one package averages $20.
If people want to help but do not have money to spare, they canwrite letters to the soldiers. Supplies for Soldiers tries to sendseveral personal letters with every care package, according to theWeb site.