| Fayetteville Observer
Published on Saturday, May 12, 2007
AROUND THE COUNTY
Program collects bandanas for troops overseas
Kim Hasty
Holiday Inn Bordeaux employees present bandanas to Mary Gray, wearing a pink
top, who organizes Operation Bandanas for Bragg. Gray is collecting bandanas
to send to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. |
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Even after sending thousands of bandanas to Iraq, Mary Gray is having to hustle to keep up with the demand.
“We are incredibly grateful for the bandanas,’’ one Army chaplain wrote Gray. “I can’t keep them on hand. I am amazed at all the troopers that are actively looking for the bandanas when we come around with them. Thank you.’’
The simple bandanas, sewn from camouflage fabric, have the 91st psalm, sometimes known as the soldier’s psalm, printed on them.
The bandanas are part of Operation Bandanas For Bragg, with which Gray became involved last November.
Gray is heading an effort with the goal of getting one to every soldier deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
The bandanas have proven useful for the soldiers for more than just spiritual reasons. Some soldiers use them as sweatbands on their foreheads or to clean goggles. Other soldiers use the bandanas to cover their faces and keep blowing sand out of their mouths
“We heard from one who said he keeps it folded in his shirt pocket,’’ Gray said. “Next to his heart.’’
Keeping up with the popularity of the bandanas is a problem that Gray welcomes. Gray, who has a son deployed in Iraq, learned about the bandanas on a Web site, www.dreamci.com, started by a woman in Texas named Jill Boyce.
Gray contacted Boyce and arranged to become the point of contact for getting bandanas distributed to soldiers from Fort Bragg.
Since November, when Gray began collecting donations of $3 each for the bandanas, she’s purchased 17,000 of them. A recent donation of 200 bandanas covered by contributions from employees of Fayetteville’s Holiday Inn Bordeaux gave Gray’s effort a boost.
“Employees at the Holiday Inn Bordeaux feel good about the hotel’s decision to show their support of the troops in this way,’’ wrote Heidi Politi, the hotel’s sales manager. “It makes each person feel as if they are with the soldiers every day … even if only as a small square piece of camouflage cloth with a psalm printed on one side.’’ To find out more about Operation Bandanas For Bragg, go to www.braggbandanas.org or contact Gray at bandanas91@yahoo.com or 578-8840. Community news editor Kim Hasty can be contacted at hastyk@fayobserver.com or 323-4848, ext. 478.
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