Group Needs Help to Share Holiday Cheer With Soldiers

"I'm panicked, because the troops depend on us," Barbara Whitehead, director of the state branch, said. She pointed to nearly empty warehouse shelves and bins and added, "I don't know how we're going to divide this among 8,000 troops."

The organization's bank account is almost empty, too. It cost $16,000 to ship boxes for Christmas last year, Whitehead said.

The shortage of money and supplies comes as the year-round operation enters its busiest season: Christmastime. Give 2 the Troops already has requests for holiday packages from 125 units, and Whitehead said she only expects that number to increase.

"Can you imagine being in the desert or in the mountains of Afghanistan, cold at night, away from your family and friends, with no recreation whatsoever, except what comes in a care package. No holiday food?" she said.

Whitehead said she did not know why people have stopped giving to the group, but speculated North Carolinians' sense of urgency about troops' needs might have abated with the return of the 82nd Airborne Division.

"For some reason, people have stopped resounding to the needs of our deployed military," she said.

Although Whitehead's Army son returned from war two weeks ago, she pointed out that more than 167,000 U.S. troops are still in Iraq and 26,000 in Afghanistan.

"I don't want to send a message to the troops that North Carolina does not care," Whitehead said.

Greenville, NC 27834