Goods pour in after a slow start
By:Mary Ellen Zangara
"A very thoughtful parent from our school has agreed to collect some items to help support our troops in Iraq."
That’s what the note sent home to all parents of Weston School students said.
The note came from first-grade teachers Lori Linderman and Madeline Vojtash, who were sharing the efforts of volunteer Maureen Berger.
Ms. Berger, meanwhile, enlisted the help of friend and school parent Karen Wells to gather the donations.
"I was sitting at home watching it on TV and realizing that there was nothing I could do to help in any way, shape or form. Then I got very upset knowing why they were over there, what they were fighting for," Ms. Berger said. "It’s just not Iraq, it’s not just Baghdad, it’s not just the people there, it’s us. So the only way that I knew how to say thank you, was to take up a collection and financially, I couldn’t do it on my own. I came to school and spoke to Karen (Ziemianik) and Mr. Frank and they said go for it."
Ms. Berger and Ms. Wells said in the first few days after the letter went out, very few donations came.
But in the days to come, the response was overwhelming.
"They were given a week and a half to bring the donations. The first couple of days, there was very little and I started to get worried so I went out and bought $80 worth of stuff and thought maybe this would give them an idea of what we need. By Wednesday of the following week, the boxes and bags were over flowing, and by Friday, the floor was completely covered," she said.
School parents told their spouses’ companies, many of which started sending items, and other companies as well.
A second part of Ms. Wells’ project involved getting the children to write letters and draw pictures to send, also, which the students did.
Ms. Berger and Ms. Wells started with children in the school with parents serving overseas the children of Rawel Gaskin and Michael George.
Their children’s classes collected items and wrote letters, and Ms. Berger and Ms. Wells took photos of the children to send to the soldiers.
Now the packages will be sent overseas and they will help share the donations with their fellow soldiers.
School nurse Peggy Martone’s son David is also in Iraq, and the students were sending him packages, too.
As all the donations started coming in, Ms. Berger and Ms. Wells came in on Friday to start to sort through the items.
Ms. Wells said, "We sorted all the items in separate bags, male and female. The room was packed and all we tried to do was organize with toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair cream, gum, hard candies and there was no room to do it. Mrs. Vojtash helped us and so did Miss Linderman. We got little baggies and made individual packages."
Ms. Wells explained how Michael George was sharing his letters and items sent with the younger soldiers as he was consoling them and to cheer them up.
At least, now they can all have something no matter how little it may be.
All the classes were photographed and all those photos will be sent with the items and the letters.
"Within a week or week and a half’s time, we had about a good 300 pounds of stuff to be shipped out," Ms. Berger said.
A few boxes already went out over the weekend and Ms. Wells said that when she went to the post office to ship a box, the people in there were so nice.
"It was a heavy box and one man in front of me who I don’t know carried the box throughout the whole line for me, brought it up to the counter and said this is for the lady behind me, this is just too heavy.
"When the post office worker saw it was from Weston Elementary School and I said what it was, he thought it was so nice, and I said that we didn’t think of postage. A man behind me in line came up and gave me money to put toward the postage. He didn’t even know me, he just said ‘God bless you.’ "
The students, teachers, Ms. Berger and Ms. Wells, are still collecting donations. Items that are needed are gallon Ziploc bags, travel-size toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, hand cream, eye drops, toilet paper (individually wrapped) shaving cream, razors, after shave, powders, combs, brushes, tissues, playing cards, hand-held games, disposable cameras, writing tablets, stamps, postcards, envelopes, gum, hard candy, cookies and deodorant.
They are also taking donations of cash to help pay for the postage of the boxes to be sent.
To donate items or help defray the shipping costs, drop off donations at the Weston School office on Newark Avenue during school hours.

