VFW boxing up core, bits of home

SANDPOINT — Inside each box are little pieces of home.

Silly things like Rubic’s cubes and the cheap pocket games where you tilt the playing card-size novelty to try and maneuver tiny balls into equally tiny holes. Practical things like razors, deodorant, toilet paper and soap.

“It gets your mind off the war,” said Bill Stevens, commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2453 in Sandpoint. “You can’t just stare at the ceiling of your bunk.

“The packages are a reminder that home is still out there.”

For Stevens, the packages are a way to pay it forward for those he received while serving as a marine in Vietnam.

“It was an unpopular war. I had people spit on me and all that stuff,” he said. “The packages proved they were only the minority, that most people supported us even though they didn’t support the war.”

The packages also let him know that somebody cared, he added.

“It made me feel I was a little closer to home,” said Stevens, adding he probably still has a few of the cards and and trinkets, “idiot things,” sent to him when he was in Vietnam.

Because he’s been in the same situation, Stevens is determined to help every soldier he can from the area and is seeking names and addresses so they can be added to the post’s list of soldiers. They will only be used for the purpose of sending mail and packages, Stevens said.

He is also seeking donations from community members, of both money and items, to send to the soldiers.

Once they have the names of soldiers, packages are sent on a regular basis with all kinds of items from home — razors, deodorant, toothpaste, sunblock, shampoo, conditioner and more — as well as frisbees, decks of cards, puzzles, books and snacks. A popular favorite is Silly String — used to find trip wires when they enter buildings since it hangs on the wires without setting the explosive charges off, Stevens said.

There isn’t a sliver of room left inside the packages by the time Stevens and the other volunteers get done with sending them as they take full advantage of a flat rate for boxes by the U.S. Postal Service.

Veteran news and donations can be mailed to 5287 Rapid Lightning Road, Sandpoint, Idaho, 83864. Donations also can be made to the “Veterans News” account at the Bank of America, with donations and funds going toward troop support.

If you would like to help out, or you know a soldier who would like mail and packages from home, contact Bill Stevens at 290-5933.