The Daily O’Collegian

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Students sent packages to more than 70 soldiers in Iraq on Wednesday and Thursday.

More than 70 soldiers in Iraq will receive gifts and letters of support from OSU students, faculty and staff because of the help of the Student Government Association.

On Wednesday and Thursday SGA senators collected 76 care packages from people who wanted to send them to friends or family members serving overseas.

SGA also provided addresses of soldiers in the 45th infantry for those who wanted to send a package but did not personally know a soldier.

Whitney Danker, an agriculture communications senior who was in charge of the project, said Thursday that she felt it was going great.

“We’ve had so many people stop by to drop off things for people they know and then other people drop off items for people they don’t know,” Danker said.

SGA provided boxes and packaging supplies and paid the shipping costs for the packages. They also bought items such as snacks, Chapstick, socks and batteries that people could include in their packages.

Danker said she would take the packages to the post office to mail them Thursday evening.

Rachel Thompson, an accounting junior, said she was already planning to send a package to her fiance, who has been in Iraq since February.

She said she sent him a package before and it cost her about $10 to ship it in a flat-rate box.

When she heard about SGA paying to ship the care packages, she decided to buy him a care package containing items such as magazines, Sudoku and crossword puzzle books, and food.

“I thought it was a really good idea and would save me 10 bucks because I’m sending it no matter what,” Thompson said.

Accounting junior Jessica Lanham sent a care package to her friend from high school who is on active duty in the Marines. He has been in Iraq since the end of February and this is his second time serving there, she said.

She said she had tried to send a package to Iraq a few years ago, but it was too expensive.

“It was like $50 to buy everything and send it over there, so I think it’s (the project) is really great,” she said. “I mean, it can make a soldier’s day over there just by receiving something.”

Joe Raymond, a fire protection and safety junior, said he decided to send a care package to a soldier after he heard about the project from a friend.

He said he has some friends in Iraq, but did not have their addresses, so he sent his package to a soldier on SGA’s address list.

“I gave them my information, if they want to send something back, so I can continue to send stuff to them,” Raymond said.

Of the packages SGA received, Danker said the most interesting one was from a man who wanted to send his son’s guitar to where he is stationed in Iraq.

The man was working on building the A-frames to advertise the project on campus and called Danker to ask if she could ship the guitar to his son, who is a former OSU student.

“They (soldiers) need the morale, and that’s kind of what the guitar will do, bring up their spirits and remind them of home,” Danker said.

Danker said many people at OSU helped her with the project after they heard about it. The Student Union Bookstore and a few students donated boxes to use to ship the packages, she said.

“It has been incredible to see the support of the OSU community,” she said.

Courtney Wares, a health promotions junior and a pledge educator for the service sorority Omega Phi Alpha, said she and other sorority members helped with the project by working shifts at the booth and helping people fill care packages.

“I think it’s a great cause,” she said. “Anything we can do to help support our troops over there is awesome. A lot of girls in our sorority have friends or family members that are overseas currently.”