Area residents and assemblyman work together to send care packages and gifts to troops overseas.
By: Joseph Harvie
What started as a letter writing campaign for residents to send letters to troops overseas has blossomed into a gift basket drive.
Assemblyman Bill Baroni, whose district includes South Brunswick, is collecting items to fill gift boxes for New Jersey troops stationed overseas.
"The holidays are always a difficult time to be away from home, especially if you are overseas defending our country, knowing your family is home in New Jersey celebrating. So we decided to do something about it," Mr. Baroni said.
Three weeks ago, Mr. Baroni was on hand at Brooks Crossing School to help Cub Scouts Pack 107 fill and decorate boxes filled with candy, toiletries and other goodies.
Stacy Schuster, communications director for Mr. Baroni, said his office will be collecting the items until the end of December because there will be two trips made to the Middle East, one in December and one in January after the holidays.
Mr. Baroni said the collection has been going strong, with residents bringing in small bags of items. He also said businesses, church groups and citizen organizations have been bringing in boxes of materials they have collected for the drive.
"We have people walk in off the streets with a bag of razors they bought from the drug store and other people came in with boxes filled with materials," Mr. Baroni said. "This shows dedication of the people of central New Jersey have to our troops."
Using a list compiled by the New Jersey National Guard Family Assistance Center, Mr. Baroni is asking residents to bring in items such as pre-paid phone cards, chewing gum, toiletries, deodorant, pens, puzzles, stationery, sewing kits and other items to his office in Hamilton, where they will be packaged and sent overseas before the holidays start.
The items will be taken over by Maj. Gen. Glenn Rieth of the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, who will be traveling overseas in the next couple of months, said Mr. Baroni.
Mr. Baroni said there have been many groups interested in doing something like this but had no way to get the materials overseas. He said he is happy that he could help the troops that will not be home for the holidays.
"I am glad our office is able to facilitate this and act as a clearinghouse for the materials to be sent overseas," Mr. Baroni said.
Items can be brought to Mr. Baroni’s office at 2239 Whitehorse-Mercerville Road, Suite E, Hamilton, N.J. 08619.
For more information or directions to Mr. Baroni’s office call (609)-631-9988 or e-mail [email protected].