Send in the Troops
Uniformed U.S. Army troops recently stormed an 8-year-old's birthday party in Butler Township.
“The soldiers came. It was really awesome,” said Ecklund Rummel of Butler, the birthday boy. He was all smiles during the invasion of his party at a local skate park. “It was so cool,” he said.
“It created quite a lot of ruckus,” said Megan Rummel, Ecklund's mother.
Staff Sgt. Bob Schlagel, Staff Sgt. Dan Malo and Sgt. Patrick Younk of the Army recruiting office at the Clearview Mall, and Army Reserve Pvt. Damion Young of Chicora came to Ecklund's party because he did not want gifts for himself. Ecklund asked for items to send to soldiers through Hero's Angels, an organization that provides care packages for military personnel.
“A lot of kids want to know what's being given to them. It's very rare to see an 8-year-old child wanting donations for the soldiers,” Schlagel said. “At his age, it was pretty incredible to me.”
Ecklund's parents, Megan and Chance Rummel, believe in giving back to their community. As a family tradition, the Rummel children find a cause to support if they want a large birthday celebration.
“He wanted to do something for the military. He thinks that's what he wants to do when he grows up,” Megan Rummel said.
“They cannot be with their families. What are you going to do about that?” Ecklund said. “Why don't just do something that would make them happy inside?”
Rummel said the response from her son's invitations was overwhelming. Even people who could not attend contributed items that are often taken for granted by people living stateside: hand lotion, snacks that won't deteriorate in the heat, games, white socks, envelopes and paper. The party guests also gave homemade and handwritten cards.
Troops deployed to the Middle East received the items from the party thanks to Hero's Angels and Randy & Bob's Auto Body in Chicora, which paid for the postage.
Rummel and the founder of Hero's Angels, Carrie Young of Chicora, were school chums and are friends on Facebook.
Young, a proud Army mother, has a list of items requested by soldiers on the Hero's Angels Facebook group page.
Right after his 2016 high school graduation, her son Damion Young left for basic training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.
“My family, friends and members of our community began donating items to send to him in care packages,” Young said. “There were more items donated than he could have ever used during his training. We began sending care packages to other soldiers in training in his company.”
The nonprofit project keeps growing. To date, 378 individual small gift bags have been shipped out to training facilities in the United States and to troops overseas. Sponsors pay the cost of the contents and the postage.
Monetary donations and items given from a troop wish list fill the supply chain. For Christmas, a sponsor form distributed locally helped Hero's Angels send 183 sponsored gifts — far surpassing its goal of 120.
In January, the group sent Valentine gifts. In February, it was Girl Scout cookies. Each month the gifts are different.Easter gift bags are on the assembly line now. Each of the 138 gift bags will contain a variety of Easter candy; something entertaining such as a Hacky Sack, a deck of cards, a puzzle and game book or wood peg game; a thank-you for the soldier's service and information about the project. When possible, a personal note or card will go in, too.Young uses Facebook for publicity. A PayPal account facilitates online donations that can fund local purchases. All contributed items must be new.Each batch of small gifts goes to an individual soldier — regardless of hometown and place of assignment — who shares the gifts with fellow soldiers.Young hears from the troops through e-mail and Facebook. As long as an address is current and the receiving soldier replies, she continues to mail to that soldier.The Youngs' basement is the storage and staging area for the packs. Although Young is a full-time student in social work at Youngstown State University, she works on project logistics every day. Her mother, Mindy Stroup, and other family members help with packing.“It's all volunteer,” Young said. Still, she isn't worried about the project expanding and would be ecstatic if it did.“I am thankful my son joined the Army and gave me this opportunity. It is an honor and a privilege to do this to show our military that we are very thankful for their service and sacrifice,” Young said.“The gifts provide a piece of home and show our military love and appreciation that they very much deserve,” she said.Schlagel said the small items mean a lot, “(They are a) reminder that the people back home do support them and are thinking about them.”Schlagel said soldiers have limited access to cell phones during training, but they can receive mail.The soldiers didn't come empty-handed to Ecklund's party. They brought him a U.S. Army rolling cooler filled with Army gifts — a T-shirt, wireless speaker, hat, backpack and gym bag. They had Army water bottles for all the party goers.However, Ecklund had to work to get the gifts from the soldiers. In “birthday boot camp,” Young said Ecklund did push-ups, sit-ups and flutter kicks with the soldiers.“The soldier doing push-ups and I was on him, that was fun,” Ecklund said.After the party, Ecklund was still enthusiastic about the event. “I'd do it over and over (again).”
“I just felt like it was a good chance to give back to the community for somebody who really loved the Army so much,” Young said.“I've been the recipient of care packages in Afghanistan and it's a good taste of home to get items that you cannot normally get over there. It's uplifting. It's a morale booster,” he said. “Even if it's just a little thing, the little things add up.”Pfc. Tyler Errington of Clay Township, now stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, has received gifts from Hero's Angels. In an e-mail, he said, “Getting packages from loved ones is what gets us through the day, whether it's during basic training, deployment or just a long day at your duty station.”Errington said, “All in all, it's not the items in the care package that matter the most to us, but thought and love that came with it from family and friends.”For sponsor forms, a wish list and other information, visit the Facebook page or group for Hero's Angels, send an e-mail to herosangels@zoominternet.net or write to Hero's Angels, P.O. Box 196, Chicora, PA 16025.
