TITUSVILLE, Fla. – While most people associate Valentine's Day as a holiday for couples, for Operation America Standing in Support it's about sending care packages to deployed troops.
- Volunteers packed Valentine's care packages for troops
- Operation America Standing in Support send packages for other holidays
- The boxes were filled with candy and other treats
More than a dozen volunteers spent Saturday filling more than a hundred boxes with candy and care bears. The boxes will eventually make their way overseas to men and women serving the country.
Sending care packages was Tess Heribacka's way of coping when her two sons who were 19 and 20 at the time were deployed to Iraq. After finding out not everyone had loved ones waiting for them at home, OASIS was formed in 2008.
“It changed my life because I realized how much they dedicate to us, a lot of guys don't have support from home, so there's no support there,” Heribacka said.
Every year they were deployed, OASIS would send care packages to the troops during holidays. Heribacka says after her sons returned from deployment, she didn't stop because of all the troops still deployed like Nancy Bray's son whose currently deployed.
Bray spent her morning filling boxes with goodies for the troops.
“He's been in South Korea since last April and we are very excited he's coming home this April,” Bray said.
For the past 12 years, troops with loved ones at home and those who thought they were alone receive a box packed by several strangers who are thinking of them.
“Knowing that our son is not the only one benefiting but all the troops, the men and women who are deployed are getting the benefit of the program getting a little taste of home,” Bray said.
The nonprofit sends care packages for other holidays, including Easter, Fourth of July and Halloween.
For more information, visit oasisofcfl.org.