Care packages for troops serving overseas assembled by volunteers on Cape Cod
BOURNE - Packing with purpose and with love, more than 160 volunteers came together Saturday in Massachusetts for the annual Cape Cod Cares for Our Troops care package assembly to show support for troops serving overseas.
"We honor their service"
"I just want them to know they have our love and support. That we haven't forgotten about them," said founder Michelle DeSilva. "We honor their service and sacrifices that they're making and their families are making."
The well-oiled operation gathered in Bourne to pack everything imaginable that a servicemember could use. Toiletries, letters, clothes, snack packs, and even a stocking stuffed with little gifts. DeSilva oversees the entire operation from assembly to delivery.
"I don't do this by myself," said DeSilva. "Everybody does this. together we can do amazing things."
Son serving in Air Force
For James Chesbro of Cotuit, assembling these care packages hits close to home. His 21-year-old son, Jackson, is in the Air Force and is currently serving overseas in Germany as an aircraft mechanic. This will be the family's first holiday without him home.
"He will be getting one of the boxes that I packed myself for him," said Chesbro. "I miss him. It's very hard."
"We had our children either in war or husbands in war and we know what these families are going through," said Elaine Savage of the Gold Star Wives Greater Boston chapter, who were on hand to help pack boxes and provide letters for each servicemember. "It's a letter thanking our troops for what they're doing, to tell them to stay safe and how much we appreciate them."
More than 67,000 care packages have gone out over the years, thanks to Cape Cod Cares for Our Troops.