A long days journey
By: Sher Hann
He walked a thousand miles on patrol, toting his pack on his back through terrain that can only be described as desolate. He is Stateside now, but not at home in the Conejo Valley. Rather, he is at a naval hospital undergoing treatment and observation for back injuries. He considers himself fortunate: he can stand upright.
This is just one of the thousands of stories emanating from Afghanistan and Iraq. Project Holiday Stockings, now in its eighth season, seeks to provide a bit of cheer at this time of year to our troops enduring brutal conditions, injuries, and death on our behalf.
The stockings are filled with items requested by our troops. The Project is a nonprofit organization, with no salaries or expenses. Everyone involved donates their time and associated expenses. To date the Project has shipped over 27,000 stockings to our troops.
To show your support, fill a holiday stocking not longer than 20 inches from top to heel with some of the items listed on the Project’s website. Be sure to include your personal holiday greeting and/or e-mail address, as well as a check for $10.70 to cover shipping for your stocking. Make checks payable to Denise Snavely.
All monies are deposited into a special account set up by the Westlake office of Merrill Lynch. The checks drawn on that account are made payable to the United States Post Master of Thousand Oaks.
You can deliver your stocking to one of the local collection points listed on the website. The deadline is December 13.
This year Project Holiday Stockings is dedicated to U.S. Army Spc. Andrew Jordan “A.J.” Castro, who graduated from Westlake High School in 2008; he was killed August 28 in a land mine explosion in Afghanistan.
The photos above are courtesy of a serviceman from the Conejo Valley. His mother, who live in Westlake Village, asked that I not share his name.
EwingSIR does not guarantee information contained in this blog, readers are encouraged not to rely solely on this information and to do their own independent research of facts contained herein. Blog information was obtained from independent sources that we do not endorse, and we do not investigate this information for accuracy.
