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Soldiers, corporate America team up to give thanks

  • Published
  • By Capt. Antonia Greene
  • 174th Infantry Brigade Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 309th Regiment, 174th Infantry Brigade stationed here, along with military community supporters at Ally in Fort Washington, Pa., partnered for the second consecutive year to support the troops in an effort termed "Boxes for Baghdad."

The local employees raised more than $9,000 to buy the majority of the supplies and pay for shipping the packages overseas. The Fort Washington campus is home to several businesses, totaling more than 3,000 employees. Army Maj. Rene Gonzales, an IT specialist at Ally and reservist with 1-309th, has supported the program since 2003.

"This is the 9th year of B4B operations at GMAC," said Gonzales. "It's a nationwide initiative started in the IT department in 2003. It promotes team-building in the departments and has benefited more than 6,000 troops throughout the years."

Chris Batcheller, lead B4B organizer at Ally talked about why his organization participates each year.

"It's been 10 years since I've been involved in this organization since just after 9/11," explained Batcheller. "We are a family here and there's always somebody who knows somebody serving and hearing how much the troops appreciate the support over there. We're happy to keep sending it."

About a half-dozen Soldiers from 1-309th aided in the soon to be re-designated Boxes for the Battlefield packing process Nov. 17. More than 120 boxes for six units currently serving in Afghanistan were assembled and shipped the next day.

"It's a great opportunity to assist the community in supporting fellow servicemembers," said Staff Sgt. Joshua Favereaux, 1-309th mobilized reservist. "We're taking care of some of our own this year - several soldiers of our battalion are currently deployed and we're sending packages directly to their units."

Army Lt. Col. Ray Belle, Sgt. 1st Class Paul Johnson and Sgt. Timothy Martinez are serving with the 430th Military Police Detachment in Afghanistan. All three soldiers were members of 1-309th stationed here.

"This is the second year I've helped organize the team to help out," said Army Staff Sgt. Chris Avgerinos, 1-309th mobilized reservist." "It's my way of saying thanks because I haven't been chosen to go downrange yet."

Avgerinos made it his personal mission to collect donations from his family and friends to increase the number of care packages.

"There are many military supporters looking to help out and I'm grateful for all the support we had this year from the program," added Avgerinos. "It's a great feeling partnering with other organizations to support the troops."

Chris Silk, Ally disaster recovery coordinator and B4B committee fundraising lead, commented about the great community support received.

"We had a left-over Halloween candy drive to support Boxes for Baghdad and the mounds of candy we collected went into hand-decorated bags made by local kindergarteners," explained Silk. "Additionally, we held a competition among the different departments to make the best baskets for our raffle - it's assuring to see everyone getting involved."

Contact Army Staff Sgt. Chris Avgerinos at chris.avgerinos@usar.army.mil for more information on supporting Boxes 4 Baghdad.