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Ohio Guard initiative is designed to help families

Toledo Blade
By BRIDGET THARP, BLADE STAFF WRITER
04.02.08

Minutes after the scheduled start of the Ohio National Guard's meeting to organize volunteers to help military families, two women lingered in the lobby of the auditorium at Owens Community College in Perrysburg Township.

Cheryl Eaton of Sandusky and Michele Gire of Columbus talked about how they could coordinate volunteer efforts while living more than two hours apart.

Ms. Eaton has organized volunteers to knit, crochet, and sew blankets for wounded soldiers in Erie County, as founder of a group called Soldiers Nightingales.

Ms. Gire, who is a coordinator for the Ohio National Guard Family Readiness Program, suggested Ms. Eaton send the group's handiwork to Wright Patterson Fisher House, a version of the Ronald McDonald House for military families with ill children.

Until yesterday, the women were strangers.

They and about 115 other people gathered at the college last night for a two-hour town-hall meeting as part of Operation Ohio Helps Its Own, a new initiative of the National Guard meant to draw would-be volunteers into collaborations with regional Family Assistance Centers rather than go it on their own.

"All we're really trying to do is connect the dots," Ms. Gire said.

"All I need is for Cheryl to come along and say, 'Well, this is what I do.' She doesn't have to re-create any wheels, she doesn't have to do anything other than what her passion is."

Maj. Gen. Greg Wayt, Ohio adjutant general, opened the meeting by asking several of the volunteers to introduce themselves and to answer: "Are you frustrated? Have you tried to help?"

"We're going to make you unfrustrated," he said.

The speakers generally praised the volunteers' various independent efforts, and recognized retired Airman Ron Boston with a plaque as 2007 Air Volunteer of the Year.

Mr. Boston organizes Operation Pillowcase, a group that sends the children of deployed soldiers a pillowcase printed with their parent's picture.

But volunteers were asked to redirect their efforts by helping with activities organized by the Ohio National Guard.

Rather than attempt to organize a picnic for military to be deployed, consider contributing to the annual picnic sponsored by the Guard.

Or maybe the $10 spent on stocking a care package to be sent overseas would be better put toward the summer camp the National Guard runs for children of deployed soldiers, said Lt. Col. Robert "Buck" Bramlish, program director for the Ohio National Guard Family Readiness Program.

"Can anybody think of something we're missing?" Colonel Bramlish asked after describing programs already in existence.

No one raised a hand.

Contact Bridget Tharp at: btharp@theblade.com or 419-724-6061.

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