Tigard soldiers – the Jungaleers – receive care packages from home

The soldiers of the 41st Infantry Brigade, receive care packages, thanks to Tigard’s new Hometown Heroes program

By Geoff Pursinger

The Times, Nov 18, 2009

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For the soldiers of the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Troops currently stationed overseas, Christmas might be coming a bit earlier than initially planned.

Tigard’s Hometown Heroes program is helping to send care packages to soldiers from the Tigard-based military unit, as a way of giving thanks for their hard work.

The 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Troops, or the Jungaleers, are an element of the Oregon Army National Guard and employ about 3,500 soldiers. The infantry brigade is in charge of a variety of tasks, including running convoys to support logistical movements, working security detail, guarding entrance control points and running a small base near the Iraqi-Jordan border.

“Soldiers in theater love receiving boxes of goodies,” said Maj. Chris Reese, public affairs officer for the 41st Infantry, in an e-mail from his post in Iraq. “It is almost like Christmas, every time we get a random package. Things like magazines, foot powder, coffee, movies, candy and other hygiene items are not only saving Soldiers money, they are giving us a sense of remembrance that there are a lot of people back in the United States that love and care for us deeply.”

The program started after the city began receiving phone calls from residents about ways to give back to local soldiers, but city officials point to one very specific event as a catalyst for the program: A $50 bill.

“I had just gotten back from vacation, and I went to go check my mail,” said Tigard resident Becky Hall, “and I opened my mailbox and there was an envelope. It was completely blank, there was no return address, just a note that said to ‘pay it forward’ and a $50 bill.”

Hall wanted to apply the money to something local, when she remembered an article she had read about care packages being sent to soldiers.

“I just thought, ‘That’s something that I want to do.’”

Hall contacted the city, which had printed the article in its monthly newsletter, Cityscape.

It was that phone call that got the city personnel thinking that a program to send care packages to troops would be worthwhile.

“That phone call really motivated me to get something going,” said Joanne Bengtson, who heads the project for the city. “She asked us how she could put her money towards sending care packages.”

Hall then talked to some of her friends and co-workers, and had soon stirred up a fair amount of enthusiasm for the project, Bengtson said.

“It’s kinda neat, the fact that we can send these packages to someone local,” Hall said. “People were saying, ‘Yeah, I’ll give you $10 to throw something in there for me.’”

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