Any Soldier

Posted: September 3, 2008

The East Cobb Street is quiet. There is the dog pulling its owner as they take their morning walk. Not much else is happening, except for the house in front of us.

Once a month, Ed and Mary Ettel host what they call packing parties. You’re never sure who you will see at each session. They may be friends, neighbors, Sunday school classes or complete strangers. But you won’t remain strangers for long. Mary will see to that while serving her famous breakfast buffet; diets are suspended temporarily.

But we don’t gather here to only eat, much as we may like. There is work to be done, important work. As you see after breakfast, Ed and Mary have converted their basement into a warehouse to better serve their mission, the AnySoldier.com project.

AnySoldier.com allows members of the armed forces to go online and request items that they cannot obtain or obtain in enough quantities while they are deployed. People, such as Ed and Mary, review the posted needs and select names for the anticipated number at that week’s party.

A typical box may contain toiletries, snacks, magazines, DVD’s, snacks, and items to give to children. All shipments include cards and letters of encouragement.  Also included is a photo of everyone involved in that day’s packing session. The products are either bought by the Ettels or donated.

The last packing was the largest they have had to date. 43 people squeezed into the basement with 800+ pounds ready to be shipped around the globe. To date, over 1,468 boxes weighing 22,552 pounds have been shipped. That is over 11 tons. 1,050 military units representing 36,536 military personnel in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Columbia, Djibouti, Iraq, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, The Philippines, Qatar, Serbia, and the United Arab Emirates have been supplied with goods from these shipments. How many of these countries can you find on the map?

After the packers are gone, Ed ships the boxes via U.S. Postal Service and a local UPS store. This UPS store, recognizing the nature of what is being shipped, gives Ed a substantial discount on their normal shipping cost. Even with this discount, it costs an average of $1 a pound to ship. In other words, $800 was needed to ship after the last party.

More details about future packing parties can be found at http://www.ettel.typepad.com/anysoldier/. I look forward to seeing you at a future party. I’m sure Mary will be glad to feed one more. Contact her at maryettel@bellsouth.net and find out for yourself.

Dave Boyer

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