When Jeremie Royal was in Iraq, his mother made sure he had lots of goodies from home.
“I’d send him cookies, beef jerky, magazines, disposable cameras, all that neat little stuff,” said Valerie Morgan of Everett.
Royal, an Apache helicopter mechanic and specialist 4 with the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, was grateful. But the packages came with a problem.
“He called me from Iraq to say that he was getting packages from Mom, but other fellows weren’t getting anything,” said Morgan, whose son is a 2001 graduate of Cascade High School.
Her soldier’s not-so-subtle hint spurred Morgan into action. She belongs to the Order of the Amaranth, a women’s group affiliated with the Masons.
Traditionally, the group focuses its fundraising on diabetes research. But with troops far from home, the group has a new cause.
Ruth McCasland of Bothell also belongs to the Order of the Amaranth, which was based in Lynnwood before the Masons’ building there was sold. The group now meets at the Everett Masonic Center, as do other branches from Lynnwood’s Robert Burns Masonic Center.
Taking a cue from Royal’s experience, the women’s group began sending monthly packages to his company in January. He was based at a camp near Tikrit, in northern Iraq.
“We started sending items over – volleyballs, hard candies, Wet Ones and snacks,” McCasland said. Her husband, Ernie, is a Mason and a Vietnam War-era Marine veteran.
At first, they sent individual boxes, each about the size of two shoeboxes. In Iraq, Royal distributed boxes to soldiers who otherwise weren’t getting mail. The women enlisted help from other Masonic groups: the Masons, Scottish Rite Masons and Eastern Star. Tucked into the boxes were letters from teenage members of Job’s Daughters, another Masonic group.
“I got e-mail from a couple of fellows thanking us for thinking of them,” said Morgan, Royal’s mother.
Her son, also a Mason, returned from Iraq in September. He lives with his wife, Crystal, in Clarksville, Tenn., near his base at Fort Campbell, Ky. Left without a personal contact in Iraq, the women found a new way to ship the goods.
Deanna and Walt Moody of Bothell are involved in the Amaranth group and Scottish Rite Masons. Their son, Patrick, is in the Army’s 416th Transportation Company in Germany. Before that duty, he served with the 463rd Military Police Company at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“We were looking for someone else in Iraq,” Deanna Moody said. Through her son, she contacted a first sergeant with her son’s former company, which is now in Iraq.
On Oct. 2, the Bothell couple received an e-mail from 1st Sgt. William Hutchings of the 463rd MP Company. He sent a mailing address and a greeting:
“Mr. and Mrs. Moody,” Hutchings wrote. “Yes I remember your son and great soldier. He departed the 463rd as we returned from GTMO. My company would be honored if you could sponsor some of our warriors. … We will gladly accept any and all packages from your Masonic organization. We need more fine Americans like your organization.”
On Saturday, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., the women’s group will be at the Everett Masonic Center to gather and box up more items for U.S. troops. Rather than small individual packages, they’ll send large boxes to Iraq. The contents will be given to those most in need.
Deanna Moody, whose staff sergeant son has been in the Army for 15 years, has always sent packages. Her son has been in Germany several times and served in Kosovo. “I’ll send cookies, and I made him a crocheted Christmas tree. For younger guys, it’s probably harder,” she said.
“I think we all wish it was over,” Moody said of the Iraq war.
Until it is over, they’ll keep the care packages coming.
“We need to support our troops over there,” McCasland said. “They need to know we care.”
“We’ll continue as long as it’s needed,” said Morgan, whose son saw a need. “Getting things from home makes them know people are thinking about them. They’re not alone.”
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
Troop support drive
The Order of the Amaranth, a women’s organization affiliated with the Masons, is sending packages to U.S. troops in Iraq. Needed are disposable cameras, beef jerky, hard candy, protein bars and other nonperishable snacks, cookies in solid containers, hand wipes, lip balm, Frisbees, Nerf balls, hand-held games, letters of encouragement and donations for shipping costs. Donations will be accepted from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Everett Masonic Center, 234 Olympic Blvd.
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