Women of the Moose adopt 15 soldiers in Iraq, send them quilts

On Friday, a small group of Women of the Moose sent out Christmas boxes to 15 American soldiers based in Iraq. It usually takes from four to six weeks to get the boxes to Iraq.
The women have been sending two boxes of goodies every month to the soldiers who live on military MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and have no refrigeration or way to cook anything else. All their snacks are at room temperature.
Friday’s package contained a homemade quilt for each soldier and 15 pre-stamped greeting cards that they can send to their families, that were donated by a card group in Ohio.
They also sent eight more cards for each soldier to send out, with stamps, along with jerky, magazines, and other goodies.
Tina Watts, Senior Regent Pro-Tem and Secretary/Treasurer of Belleville Women of the Moose 1135, said they used to adopt a family for the holidays.
This year they decided to adopt 15 soldiers. Nancy Summers of Sumpter Township, the group’s Community Service Chair, has a quilting group and they made the 15 quilts to send to the men.
Tina Watts’ son, Staff/Sergeant Johnathon Watts, has served two tours of duty in Afghanistan and now is based in Iraq. He’s one of the 15 that have been adopted by the women, along with 13 men who serve under him and his commanding officer.
Joe and Debra Summers do the Moose’s Food Auction every month and they donate food for the boxes. Tina said the last donation was so generous it amounted to two months worth of goodies for the boxes.
Tina said besides the MREs, the soldiers get USO boxes.
The women taking part in the project are: Fran Corbin, Dee Kulhanek, Debra Summers, Yvonne Livermore, Nancy Summers, and Tina Watts.