KINGSLEY, Iowa | Bob Tolliver served with the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Lexington in 1953, toward the end of the Korean War.
"I got a lot of newspapers sent to me," said Tolliver, a resident of Kingsley. "They were probably a month old, but I really liked getting them."
Tolliver spent a morning last month packing different treats for those deployed and spending time away from home. He worked with a couple of dozen students and community members in boxing up candy, toothpaste, peanuts and more, all to be sent to soldiers currently serving in the Middle East.
The group grew out of a men's weekly prayer breakfast group, a group with which Tolliver is involved at his church, First Lutheran Church in Kingsley. The idea came from another member of that group, retiree Randy Wiese.
"My wife, Nita, and I send a care package each month to our grandson, Tyler Wiese, who is serving overseas," Randy Wiese said. "Tyler told us that he really appreciates the care packages. But he also said the other guys he was serving with were getting a little envious.
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So, Wiese took an idea for an expanded care-package effort to his prayer breakfast group. Donations quickly came pouring in.
"We didn't even really ask for donations," Wiese said. "They just came in."
Rob Wiese, the K-8 principal serving Kingsley-Pierson and the father of Tyler Wiese, soon got his students involved. Not only did several write letters to these soldiers, they also reported to the church to join folks like Randy Wiese and Bob Tolliver in packing up these care packages for delivery through the U.S. Postal Service.
"We were told by the U.S. Postal Service to have these 50 care packages in the mail by Thanksgiving," Randy Wiese said. "That allowed us to beat the Thanksgiving rush. They should get to these soldiers (members of the U.S. Army Reserve 960th Quartermaster Unit of Sioux City) just before Christmas."
"When Tyler and his group returns in April, we hope to have an assembly at the school when they can speak with these kids," said Randy Wiese, who still coaches girls track for Kingsley-Pierson/Woodbury Central. "I think the most important items in these care packages are the cards and letters from the school."
A letter from Jordyn goes like this: "Dear soldier, Thank you for serving our country. Hi. My name is Jordyn and I am 8. I go to school at Kinsgley-Pierson. I am in 3rd grade. My teacher is Mrs. Bailey. I have one brother that is in sixth grade... Did you miss your family when you left? What is your daily schedule like at noon? Your friend, Jordyn."
A group of Kingsley-Pierson High School students addressed a letter to a "Dear American Hero, We can never express how truly thankful we are for your service to our country. You have bravely left the safety of our country and put your life at risk so that we may stay safe. Your family has given the ultimate sacrifice of a loved one, and we must not thank just you, but them as well.
"We have come to understand that many of you don't receive care packages or Christmas presents due to the cost that it takes to send them, so we decided that we can show just a small token of thanks, even if it is small compared to your sacrifice, with a present..."
Each package also contained a letter from those at First Lutheran Church and a prayer pamphlet, all tucked away as one student's phone played the Bing Crosby World War II classic, "I'll Be Home for Christmas."
Hope Bollin, a senior at Kingsley-Pierson, packed a box of goodies and daily supplies and said, "It is fun helping soldiers and knowing they get something for Christmas."
"It would be scary to be away from home," said Malakie Christophersen, a seventh-grader.
"It is important to support those in a war, to give them some of what we have," added Boe Harvey, an eighth-grader at Kingsley-Pierson.
"I'm glad I could help," said Hayden Dunne, an eighth-grader, who noted that her grandfather and great-grandfather, men like Bob Tolliver, also served in the military and spent time like this far from the safety and security of home.
