By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



The Gardendale Rotary Club is asking the community to support its efforts in thanking soldiers serving overseas.

Starting in late February, the Gardendale club, along with Rotary clubs of north Alabama, will be sending gifts to troops serving in Afghanistan, Iraq and associated theaters of action.

The gifts will be donated by businesses or purchased with funds collected by Rotarians.

The concept of the project was developed by Rotary’s District Gov. Phil Fowler of Arab. He said this is the first such project that will include all the clubs in the district. He said the project is also the perfect way to help celebrate Rotary’s birthday, which is on Feb. 23.

“I came up with the idea when a couple of Rotary clubs got some adverse publicity,” Fowler said. “So I thought, ‘Let’s do something positive that would be noteworthy and newsworthy.’”

Fowler, who served in the U.S. Army for 23 years on active and reserve duty, said he was conscious of the attitudes and perceptions of those serving overseas and wanted to do something special to show service men and women they’re appreciated at home.

“I know very well what it’s like to have mail call and not receive something,” Fowler said. “You can’t receive something every time, but it does leave you with a lonely feeling.”

Fowler said some of the gifts that will be sent to soldiers include necessities like cooling towels and new socks. Some families of soldiers may also receive gift certificates.

Additionally, the clubs will send letters and cards of encouragement to the families of those troops. The club will also solicit school children to write letters of encouragement to troops and their families.

Clif Rhodes, a member of the Gardendale Rotary Club, is leading the local effort and said he would be going around to local schools to ask for support in the project.

“I don’t think there’s anybody that doesn’t want to support our troops this year,” Rhodes said.

He said he had read reports of mail and packages not getting received by soldiers overseas and said he was confident this project would not meet a similar fate. “This will get to where it needs to go,” he said.

Gardendale Rotary Club President Aaron Box said he was excited to be a part of the project and encouraged everyone in the community to get involved in showing their support to fighting men and women around the world.

“The most critical thing is to keep their morale up, but we also want to help the morale of families back here,” Box said. “That’s why we’re so happy to be doing this project.”

The Gardendale club is asking anyone who has a family member on active duty or has lost a loved one in a war area to send that person’s name, military service, rank and FPO or APO address. The club will also need the complete name and address of the family member who is nominating the service.

The information should be mailed to Rotary District 6860, care of Martin Uptain, P.O. Box 1211, Gardendale, AL, 35071.