On Oct. 25, members of Altrusa of Santa Maria met at the Santa Maria Post Office with Si Tenenberg to ship 49 boxes of supplies to U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Altrusa of Santa Maria members donated boxes of supplies and spent a morning at Tenenberg’s home packing and labeling the boxes. Fundraising efforts by the group paid for the shipping.
Diane Alleman-Stevens, a former president of the organization, said that Tenenberg heard about Altrusa of Santa Maria and contacted them to see if they would be interested in helping the troops.
Tenenberg, a former Marine sergeant who fought in Korea, has been sending the boxes for the past two years. He said that he got his first e-mails back from troops after sending some books over: “Please send warm clothes and food, we’re cold and hungry.” Tenenberg said that the message was enough for him. He now figures that he’s sent more than 3,000 boxes in the last two years he’s been working on the effort.
“I review about 40 e-mails every night from www.anysoldier.com, and I pick six or seven, and those are the ones we send packages to,” he said. “Some of these soldiers and Marines at the forward bases in Afghanistan are going 20, sometimes 30 days in between re-supply. I’ve gotten e-mails back from them telling me that our packages keep them going in between.”
The packages include stuffed animals, school supplies, shoes, toys, and candy for the village children. Items requested for the troops themselves include snacks, sunscreen, personal hygiene items, non-prescription medical supplies, and warm winter clothing.
Tenenberg said that e-mails he gets requesting humanitarian supplies are taken especially seriously. He said that there have even been occasions when children have shown U.S. troops where IEDs are located.
“The way I see it, you keep the kids happy, you keep the parents happy,” Tenenberg said. “You keep the parents happy, and that’s usually two less people that want to kill our guys.”
Intern Nicholas Walter compiled this week’s Community Corner. Send items for consideration to mail@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 6-13, 2008.