GRAFTON — Marilyn Riddle has been providing positive morale through care packages for hundreds of men and women who are serving overseas in the United States Armed Forces.

For nearly six years, Riddle has transformed her home in Grafton into a mini warehouse fully loaded with toiletries, gum, candy, wet wipes, hand sanitizer, lotions, magazines and stationery, which allows her to send nearly 10 care packages a week to troops stationed in the Middle East.

This all started with a letter to Riddle from her youngest son, Staff Sgt. 1st Class Gerry Mark, who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2004.

“He wrote me a letter and told me that not a lot of soldiers were receiving packages or mail. He wrote one line, ‘Mom, can you help?’ ” Riddle recalled.

Almost immediately after receiving the letter from her son, Riddle began putting together box after box full of comfort items for the soldiers.

Many items are donated from Grafton VFW Post 3341, its Ladies Auxiliary and the Grafton United Methodist Church. The Blue Water Salon in Grafton, where Riddle is the manager, has allowed her to place a drop-off box for items on its premises.

Even during the tough economic times, Riddle said people still want to help the troops.

“I grew up a Navy brat. Right now, taking care of the soldiers is my main goal,” Riddle said. “The soldiers need to know that we in the United States care about them.”

Riddle said she knows not everyone can afford to send a care package overseas and she believes this is her way of helping others.

“A mom will sometimes have a son who will be deployed and she will ask me to send a box. Another mom was a single parent on a single budget and her son was sent overseas, so I sent him a package,” Riddle said.

In the beginning, soldiers would often send Riddle names of other soldiers who could use a morale boost and a care package would end up in his or her lap.

“Often times, the soldiers will share their package,” she said.

On occasion, Riddle has sent packages to hospitals when she learns a soldier has been wounded.

“I have sent care packages to Landstuhl Hospital in Germany because one (injured) soldier was picked up in a chopper and went there with only the clothes on his back,” she said.

Riddle will continue sending care packages to the troops overseas until they are all home.

“It’s something that should be done because the people that are over there are real people, not just a faceless person wearing a uniform,” she said.

Know a soldier?

If anyone has a loved one stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan that is in need of care package, call (440) 926-3387.

A donation box is at Blue Water Salon, 589 Main St., Grafton.

Send your Grafton/LaGrange/Columbia news to Melissa Linebrink, 329-7155 or mlinebrink@chroniclet.com.

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