Donations sought for care packages to Iraq
DANVILLE – The Danville Knights of Columbus is collecting donations to prepare a Christmas mailing to Capt. Anne Sheahan, who serves as an Army nurse in the recovery unit at the combat support hospital at Al Asad Airbase in Iraq.
"I've been in regular contact with Annie," said Bob Gill, a Knights member. "I asked her what they could use over there, and she sent me a list."
Gill is also friends with Sheahan's husband, John, who stayed behind in Heidelberg, Germany, where Sheahan served before her deployment to Iraq last August. John Sheahan is a former Grand Knight at the Danville club.
Anne Sheahan is a Westville High School graduate and her husband a Danville High School graduate. Their blended family includes her daughters, Danielle Shaffer, Kristen McCool and Amber Young of Danville, and his children, Kara Coon of Hoopeston and Jordan Sheahan of Danville.
Anne Sheahan enlisted three years ago this coming January and was able to opt for Germany as her first assignment. She is in her first deployment to Iraq, and Shaffer said when she returns from there in February, her next assignment will mostly likely be stateside.
"My mom sort of talked about doing this back when I was in high school," Shaffer said. "Her parents met during the war. Her mother was a military nurse too.
Capt. Anne Sheahan, Army nurs at Al Asd Airbase,47th combat support hospital, Iraq.
"Although I worry, I'm very proud of her," Shaffer said.
The group will collect donations through Monday and intends to ship the packages by Oct. 30 to ensure they arrive before Christmas.
A previous shipment, which included T-shirts, underwear, toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors, playing cards and other items, was sent on Sept. 10, and was enough to fill seven of the post office's largest flat-rate boxes. It met Anne Sheahan's request of sending "anything that you would like if you were in recovery in a hospital."
"We were very surprised and uplifted to receive such a large quantity of items that all of us could readily use," Anne Sheahan wrote to Gill and his wife, Marcia, in an e-mail. "When I received the boxes here in Iraq and began to open them, many soldiers were hanging over my shoulder to see just what the next box held. It was like Christmas for us all!"
Gill said the organizers seek donations because it is easier to buy the items they need and make them fit the boxes.
If you are interested in donating, call Gill at 497-4079 or Dwight Palmer at 442-7055 or drop a donation off at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 310 Bryan Ave.
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