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Volunteers stuff stockings for troops, aim to send 1,200

Blue Star Mothers

Courtesy City of Henderson

Henderson Mayor Andy Hafen on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010, helps assemble 1,200 holiday stockings that will be sent to troops currently serving overseas. Pictured with Mayor Hafen are students from McCaw Elementary.

Blue Star Mothers of Henderson and Boulder City

Candy is ready to be stuffed into holiday stockings on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010, at the Henderson Convention Center, 200 S. Water Street. For the holidays, the Blue Star Mothers of Henderson and Boulder City are sending 1,200 stockings overseas. Launch slideshow »

When asked why the Blue Star Mothers of Henderson and Boulder City are sending 1,200 stockings to troops overseas, the group’s president, Dorothy Fusco, has a simple answer: morale.

“These guy really need to know that people here care,” she said. “A lot of the time, all the news they get over there is negative.”

This year, each of the group’s handmade stockings will be packed with a myriad of goodies, including a 60-minute phone card and a pocket-sized American flag folded by the Basic High School ROTC. Toiletries, like toothpaste and deodorant, and goodies, like chips and chocolates, will also be sent.

Framer Brothers Coffee donated 200 pounds of coffee, Fusco said, and Starbucks donated thousands of packets of instant coffee. Wal-Mart gave the group 1,200 bottles of eyeglass cleaner.

Chere Pederson, the group’s treasurer and spokeswoman, said there has been an outpouring of support from Henderson residents who have donated their time or money to the cause. The event is in its second year.

“Whether they agree with the war or don’t agree with the war, they know our kids are overseas,” Pedersen said.

Pedersen’s son, Army Sgt. Alastair Addie, is a medic. He is currently stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Fusco’s son recently returned to the U.S. from his sixth tour in Afghanistan, where he served as a first sergeant in the army. She said her son, who oversaw about 300 men, was always concerned about what his fellow soldiers wanted at Christmas time, rather than asking for specific items in his stocking. Ramen Cup O Noodles and candy were always in high demand, Fusco said.

Virginia Requa, 66, of Henderson, said she wanted to volunteer with the group the minute she heard about their plan to send stockings overseas, even though she doesn’t have any children serving in the military.

“I just picture their faces when they open these,” she said. “It just seemed like a good thing to do, for all the things that they do for us. It brings tears to my eyes.”

The group has already begun packing the stockings. Hundreds are already ready to be mailed. Volunteers will be at the Henderson Convention Center, 200 S. Water St., Wednesday and Thursday. They will be stuffing stockings from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day.

Wednesday morning, Henderson Mayor Andy Hafen and 100 kindergarten students from McCaw Elementary School volunteered with the group. The 100 students wrote letters to soldiers, and packed about three stockings each, Fusco said, putting a big dent in their stocking-stuffing operation.

The event remains open to volunteers who want to stuff stockings or write notes to soldiers.

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