University Times

Pitt’s Office of Veterans Services, the College of General Studies student government board and the McCarl Center for Nontraditional Student Success have launched the “Pitt’s Packed with Patriotism” project to support deployed local soldiers.

Veterans services work-study student Peter Lahoda, coordinator Dee Kreiling and director Ann Rairigh pack donations for local soldiers in Afghanistan.

Donations of personal hygiene items, snacks, magazines, DVDs and games, along with photos and letters for the soldiers may be dropped off in the McCarl Center or the Veterans Services office on the 4th floor of the Cathedral of Learning.

Items that are especially appreciated by the soldiers include shampoo, bar soap, shaving cream, razors, women’s hygiene items, powdered drink mixes, gum, vitamins, protein products, energy drinks and American cigarettes, said Ann Rairigh, director of veterans services.

Money for postage also is needed. Initial donations have been received from a local veterans group and private individuals, but that $250 won’t cover all the parcels they plan to mail, she said. (The office cannot accept cash, but checks may be made payable to the University of Pittsburgh Office of Veterans Services.)

The project will continue beyond the holiday season, but the next shipment will be sent Dec. 1 in order to reach soldiers in the 316th Army Reserve Engineering Asphalt Detachment before Christmas. The Butler-based reservists were deployed last spring to build forward operating bases and expand Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan.

(For a glimpse of their living conditions, a tongue-in-cheek video titled “Camp Leatherneck Resort & Spa” can be viewed on YouTube.com.)

Rairigh said the flat rate boxes she uses to ship the items typically take about one week to reach their destination.

“We’re sending to people we know,” said Rairigh, noting that items collected through the project will be directed to units with local ties or to Pitt students and alumni who are serving overseas. She hopes to send two shipments to the engineering unit — which includes her husband and several Pitt alumni — before they return home in April. Later shipments will be sent in care of a Pitt student whose Army unit is to be sent to Afghanistan in April, she said.

For additional information, contact Rairigh at amr142@pitt.edu.

— Kimberly K. Barlow