The Villages - April 2021 - 12

OPERATION
SHOEBOX
DIRECTOR
CAMILLE GIECK

12

APRIL 2021

OPERATION
SHOEBOX
Launched in 2003 in the living room of Belleview
resident Mary Harper, Operation Shoebox sends
hundreds of care packages every week to soldiers
deployed overseas.
Here in The Villages, Operation Shoebox Director
Camille Gieck leads a team of volunteers at Lake
Miona Regional Recreation Complex every week,
where they work to put together the care packages
and prep them for shipping around the world.
Care packages are full of snacks, hygiene products,
magazines, games and more - basically anything
that can help give active-duty soldiers a reminder of
home. Gieck says that even though COVID has forced
the cancellation of many of their fundraising events
and limited the amount of people they can have
together for packing days, Operation Shoebox still is
able to ship out around 400 packages per week.
" They're still getting something, so they know
we're thinking about them and they aren't forgotten, "
she said.
On their packing days at Lake Miona, hundreds
of volunteers gather in the auditorium and several of
the side rooms to man different stations - some pack
food while others arrange comics and puzzles or sew
bags. There also is a large box truck the organization
uses to haul packages between The Villages and
Belleview, again all handled by volunteers.



The Villages - April 2021

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The Villages - April 2021 - Contents
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