Treating the troops: mission to send care packages continues

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

The letters hanging on the wall in the lobby of the Posen post office is all the incentive postmaster Sharon Wirgau and the many supportive volunteers need to press forward and continue their efforts to send care packages to troops deployed overseas. ?I have to thank you for the thoughtful and generous care packages!? stated Pfc. Sam Talaske in a letter dated Dec. 15, 2010. ?My soldiers were excited to get some homemade treats?it was really awesome to get Christmas cookies.?

The packages not only remind deployed local soldiers they’re not forgotten, but it’s also a way to give them a slice of normal life, most can’t wait to return to. Wirgau knows there are so many who would have loved to have been in the woods last fall, yet were serving on foreign soil instead of relaxing in a deer blind. Sharon’s husband Dean, along with Jerry Yarch of Rogers City shot a couple of does during the recent hunting season, with the express-intent of getting the meat processed into jerky and landjaeger. It was vacuum-packed and prepared for shipment. ?You read the letters, and you can’t help but feel something for these people and their families,? said Wirgau. ?Their families are having it almost as rough as they are.?

Wirgau was inspired by the families of local soldiers, while working the counter at the Posen post office. She would see the moms and wives, brothers and sisters, mailing parcels to family members. ?You can’t help but feel something,? said Wirgau. ?I thought, I didn’t have anybody in the service at the time, but you still can do something to help. It doesn’t take much at all.? At the present, her nephew, Army Spc. Jason Orban is in the service. The letters describe how, when the packages arrive, most of the eatable gifts disappear in moments.

?It really is great to see everyone swarm over me when I am carrying the care packages into work,? stated Ashley Grant in a letter to Sharon. ?It is nice to see the women fight over the stuffed animals. Between the care packages your group has sent and the boxes from home I now have a full audience of animals watching me as I work. It makes me smile to see them everyday.? Wirgau has spearheaded the shipment of 735 boxes since November 2007, including 135 since September. The names of the soldiers receiving packages are all serving in Afghanistan, but are from communities from Hubbard Lake to Cheboygan, as well as Rogers City, Posen and Presque Isle. ?I just wanted to drop you a quick note, thanking you all for the gift packages,? stated Sgt. 1st Class Tim Reinholz, in a letter posted in the lobby of the Posen post office. ?It was all put to good use by myself and the other men. Please thank the Schuch family for the syrup. It lasted one day!?

“At first we had people bake cookies, that’s where ‘Treat for the Troops’ came from. So, we started with people from the Posen area baking cookies, and we would ship them out when we would have a box full,” she said. “It kind of developed from there.” The donation jar at the counter wasn’t enough to pay for the postage. “A lot of time we would pay for it out of pocket. It’s a small price to pay, when you think about what these guys are doing for us.”

Working with Carole Cadarette and Clarence Grenkowicz, a major fundraiser at the Maplewood Tavern in Alpena was established to cover the operating expenses, which has made it much easier to pay for postage, which costs $12.95 a box. Approximately $12,000 was raised the last two years with the event being conducted in October. ?We ha

ve a Chinese raffle, live and silent auctions and people doing crazy things,? said Wirgau. ?I was paid $158 to sing ?Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown? karaoke-style.? Wirgau believed it we would be ?a one shot deal, we’ll see how it goes, but it was very successful. They offered to let us do it again. We are planning to do another this summer.? There also are generous private donors helping with expenses, but Wirgau is still looking for ways to save money and be creative. She once sent all the fixings to make pizza. Plus, when Christmas was over, she filled up a shopping cart full of marked down candy to fill boxes.

Anyone interested in donating, there is an account set up at Calcite Credit Union. ?We also have private individuals that send us donations,? said Wirgau. ?We have so many volunteers that help us out. It’s amazing when you get together, what you can accomplish.? ?We have had a long two weeks of living out of duffel bags, and small meals. Sometimes we were too tired to shower. But we got settled in our rooms and we still had a couple of hours before chow. It seemed as though you had planned it just right. I room with six other females, who were all hungry also. Needless to say, there are a few crumbs left and it brightened our day. Thank you all the females of the 1430th.?