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Support Our Soldiers sees success

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By CHERYL KUCK

Tribune correspondent

Published: June 24, 2009

PLANT CITY - Volunteers from Plant City Support Our Soldiers set up a red, white and blue booth at the May Bike Fest to raise money for the organization that sends necessities and goodies to troops overseas.

The organization's president, Donna Briggs, vice president Sandra Batareau, marketing director Cindi Dross and others sold bottled water at the monthly motorcycle festival to help defray the cost of mailing supplies such as snacks, canned foods, Silly String and toiletries to soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries.

The group displayed an American flag that had flown over a military base in Iraq and letters of gratitude and photos of Marines who had recently received supply boxes.

One letter was from Cathy Williamson of Plant City, former guardian of Navy Medic Steven Hancock, who is assigned to the Marines in Iraq. His unit recently received supplies from the Plant City group.

"On Friday May 1 Steven was unable to save his seriously wounded buddy. Four men have been lost in their unit. He was in tears when he called from the camp. The care packages could not have come at a better time and have been a tremendous morale booster," Williamson wrote.

The Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored the Bike Fest, allowed Plant City Support Our Soldiers to put up its booth without charge.

Since the Bike Fest, the group has been invited by veterans groups to come to bike events in Lakeland and motorcycle runs through Winter Haven, Lake Wales and New Tampa.

Sending huge amounts of supplies internationally is a big job. To keep up with the number of requests, Briggs is increasing her army of volunteers with the help of Plant City and Lakeland public schools.

In February, troops received handmade Valentines with messages from Southwest Elementary School in Lakeland followed by 42 boxes of more than 3,000 items donated in March by Jackson Elementary School in Plant City.

Tomlin Middle School students became the most recent donors with a student council drive that ended with a total of 30,356 items collected.

The school had a contest that gave the class with the greatest number of collections a pizza party sponsored by Plant City Support Our Soldiers.

"I love doing this for the kids and the troops. In this economy, I'm glad I can still give discounts to worthy organizations like this," CiCi's Pizza owner Tim Dallman said.

The happy and hungry Tomlin winners were the sixth grade language arts students. "These are advanced and gifted students who are very caring and a really phenomenal class," their teacher Gina Francis said.

Math and science teacher Kenyo Johnson and Dawn Jackson are the student council advisers who co-sponsored the event along with Tomlin Principal Susan Sullivan.

Johnson's math class was responsible for packaging and counting donations. "We had such a great student participation, the student council has decided to adopt the program and will be collecting donations this coming November and again in May 2010," Johnson said.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

The next fundraiser to benefit Plant City Support Our Soldiers will start at 10 p.m. July 4 at the Plant City Applebee's restaurant, 1204 Townsgate Court, off Thonotosassa Road, south of Interstate 4.

The event, which will include karaoke, drawings and fireworks, lasts until 2 a.m., Applebee's General Manager Steve Skeldon said. Tom Cancellare, general manager of the new Plant City Fairfield Inn & Suites, will be a co-sponsor of the event.

Prizes include a weekend for two at the Fairfield, Applebee's gift certificates, tickets to Lowry Park Zoo and more.

"We wanted to do more to honor our troops so we're just planning a really big party on the 4th and hoping to raise thousands for Plant City Support Our Soldiers," Skeldon said.

Cheryl Kuck can be reached at wkuck@tampabay.rr.com.

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