Deployed Soldiers Hit Home at USDA’s Nashville Office

For many Middle Tennessee families, this holiday season will be celebrated without a family member because tens of thousands of soldiers are deployed in Iraq. In Nashville, one government agency did what many others do – send gift boxes to troops, but this year it’s more personal. WPLN’s Jacqueline Fellows reports.

The conference room at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Nashville office on West End Avenue last week was turned into an assembly line of employees who were busy wrapping gifts, and stuffing boxes with cd’s, calling cards, and food for soldiers who can’t be home for the holidays.

USDA Employee, Martha: “Popcorn, trail mix, Christmas cards, cookies in tin….”

That’s Martha, busy preparing a gift box for 23-year old paratrooper William “Hunter” Carrington, who is stationed in Afghanistan.

Employee Assistance Coordinator Gene Lynch initiated the idea. Her nephew, Wes, is a Chinook helicopter pilot serving in Baghdad and won’t be home until next August.

“Wes is our only male in our family and I was just thinking about him. And then I thought, I can’t be the only one doing this.”

Lynch found out there were nine other USDA employees from across the state that had a family member serving in the Iraq war who wouldn’t be home for the holidays. She decided if the soldiers can’t come home, then at least some of the comforts of home would come to them.

December 4th is the deadline for sending a package to a soldier that will arrive in time for Christmas.