Dozens of volunteers at DFW Airport spent Wednesday preparing care packages for service members who will be stationed overseas this Christmas. Volunteers came from the airport itself and Suffolk Construction, which is working with DFW on its terminal renovation.
"Both DFW Airport and Suffolk are made up of a lot of folks who, either through family relationships or direct employment, have military backgrounds," says Suffolk Texas President Brad Brown.
Brown says they prepared 1,000 care packages Wednesday that will be sent to service members overseas.
"Things as simple as Skittles and M&Ms to lip balms, clean wipe-type things, creature comforts we have here at home," he says. "It's very, very simple, nothing major. We were able to put some encouraging messages in the packs as well, just trying to connect them to some of the things they'd appreciate back in the States."
Brown and the USO say they hope to bring some connection to home for those stationed abroad.
"Imagine you're in a place you have never been before," says USO Care Pack Program Manager Sarah Bostic. "You're separated from your family, you're separated from everything you know, and you may not even know the local language."
Bostic says USO has strong working relationships with DFW Airport and Suffolk Construction, so volunteers signed up quickly to work at the event Wednesday. She says a lot of volunteers are veterans themselves.
"They know what it's like to receive these care packages first-hand, and they want to create that impact for active duty service members, which is just incredible," she says.
"We certainly have a high population of folks who come from a military background," says Suffolk's Brown. "I will also say DFW Airport, I was blown away at the number of volunteers from their employee ranks who came today and have military backgrounds."
Bostic says USO fills care package requests year round, but this is the organization's busiest stretch. She says a lot of requests come from service members' families.
"One of the coolest things is when we receive a care package request from a mom or spouse, then to hear back from them months later and say you don't know what that meant to know they're still taken care of even though we weren't able to be there to take care of them," she says.
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