Photo By Joel Diller | Bailey Uzelmeier hands a care package to a U.S. Sailor from Fleet Logistics Support...... read more read more
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How far would you travel to see somebody open a care package you sent to them? For Bailey Uzelmeier, a 16-year-old high school student from Houston, Texas, the answer is: 6,454 miles to the other side of the globe.
Bailey and her mother, Barbara, visited Naval Support Activity (NSA) Souda Bay June 17, 2017 to help deliver 100 care packages to Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) (GHWB). Bailey volunteers with Help Our Military Endure (HOME), a non-profit organization based out of Houston that specializes in sending care packages to service members serving in far off countries.
Upon arriving at NSA Souda Bay, Bailey and her mother met with Sailors from Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 40, the Beach Detachment of GHWB that provides Carrier On-board Delivery (COD) support to aircraft carriers. Bailey passed out care packages to the VRC-40 crew and helped load the remaining care packages on to the COD.
“I actually found out about this base last year when I was here volunteering to teach English,” said Bailey. “I decided that I’ve done so much packing of the care packages (that) I wanted to see the other side of things.”
HOME takes pride in filling their care packages with the comforts from home and with the not-so-easily obtainable necessities that a service member needs while on a deployment. Care packages come in two different varieties - food or hygiene. “You always have to separate them (food and hygiene),” said Bailey. “Normally there’ll be food and dry goods stuffers, so socks and magazines are big stuffers. There’s also lots of Girl Scout cookies.”
“We try to send (items) like paper products, pens, pencils, Sudoko books,” said Barbara. “But not just everything you need, we try to throw some fun stuff in there too.”
LS1 Robert Horton, a member of the GHWB beach detachment stationed at NSA Souda Bay, received one of the hygiene care packages. “I think it was pretty awesome that she would go out of her way to try to support us, help us guys out, being that we’re so far away from our families. I thought it was nice of her,” said Horton. His package contained toiletries such as deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, Q-tips, Chap Stick, and several 1,000-piece puzzles. “It was right on time … and I was able to share with the other guys that didn’t receive a care package,” said Horton.
While no one from Bailey's immediate family is currently serving or has served in the military, it was hearing stories about service members lacking essentials that inspired her to volunteer. Referring to forward deployed service members, Baily said, “They’re not near given what they need, and I don’t think they’re recognized as they should be for the work that they do. So if I can boost a little of their morale, I’m happy with that.”
HOME’s greatest need is receiving enough monetary donations to pay for the shipping of the care packages it sends out. “If we send the same amount of boxes that we sent last year, we sent 5,000 boxes, it’s a significant amount of money,” said Barbara. Considering that a Priority Mail Military Large Flat Rate Box costs $17.35, the total cost to the organization rounds out at $86,750. It cost Baily $1,735 just to ship her 100 boxes to Crete.
HOME receives both monetary and non-monetary donations to complete their inventory. Bailey also makes para cord bracelets and key chains in the colors of the different branches of service to help raise money. She sells them at different events that HOME attends, such as air shows.
The inventory that HOME receives gets assembled into care packages during “packing parties” at a local church’s gymnasium. The 100 care packages sent to USS George H.W. Bush were packed in March by volunteers and mailed to NSA Souda Bay in May. In 2016, HOME sent 4,227 care packages to military members deployed around the globe and has already sent 2,994 thus far in 2017.
Bailey’s future plans include taking a "gap year" after graduating from high school in 2018, where she will continue her volunteerism with HOME prior to pursuing a college degree. She has more than 350 volunteer hours with HOME, and is the recipient of a Bronze, Silver, and Gold Presidential Volunteer Service Award.
Anyone that is interested in supporting HOME is encouraged to visit their website at www.helpourmilitaryendure.org and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HelpOurMilitaryEndure .
| Date Taken: | 06.17.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 06.29.2017 06:25 |
| Story ID: | 239564 |
| Location: | SOUDA BAY, GR |
| Hometown: | HOUSTON, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 94 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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