Helping the troops from home

When Maria Frager walked out of Costco with 30 cases of Pampers baby wipes last month, other shoppers seemed surprised.

"Wow, you must have a lot of kids," one person remarked.

"Actually, these are going to our troops in Iraq," she replied.

The $392 worth of baby wipes, which soldiers will use to clean off sand, now sit in her Germantown home, next to 125 pounds of beef jerky and 288 ministry books.

Later this month, the donations will be shipped to Iraq, thanks to Helping Our Troops, a project established by Frager, her husband Scott, and a bible study group from Cedar Brook Community Church.

The project has raised more than $3,000 to purchase comfort items for soldiers since May.

"We want the troops over there to know how much we love them, how much we appreciate them," she said. "We care about them. They are not forgotten."

Scott Frager first thought of the idea months ago.

"These small things make a difference," he said. "Anything we can do will help."

On May 23, Maria announced the project during a worship service.

"Our objective is to let as many of our soldiers as we can know we care," she said.

The Fragers plan to transport the donated materials to Camp Lejune in North Carolina by the end of the month.

"If we don't do it soon, we're going to run out of room in the house," he said.

In October, the couple started trying to find local military families they could assist. The idea was hindered by the military's security policies.

As Easter approached, a forwarded e-mail from Sgt. Major Rick Hawkins on a Corvette message board sparked an idea.

"I forwarded an e-mail from a chaplain in Iraq to members of my church, and they in turn forwarded it to other [groups]," recalled Hawkins, a North Carolina resident.

The e-mail described the "comfort items" most appreciated by soldiers serving overseas. The Fragers finally had a contact.

"We were thrilled," Maria Frager said. "Once we got that contact, we went to our Bible study group and said 'Look, here's what we could do. We could start out small and see where it takes us.'"

In the mail last week arrived 250 Misty Mates, a cooling device that troops can wear in the desert heat that the Fragers purchased online. They plan to order 20 canisters of Gatorade soon.

Hawkins was deployed in Iraq last year. The items collected by the Fragers are precisely what the troops need, he said.

"The diaper wipes are a great thing because it wipes the sand away," Hawkins explained. "The beef jerky is easy to carry and it's individually wrapped, which really helps. ... On the receiving end, it's so nice to know people care."

For the Fragers, the project was an opportunity to express their appreciation for the troops.

"Both of us have always respected and admired the military," Maria Frager said, pointing out that her husband's father was a Marine drill sergeant at Parris Island, S.C.

The group collected money during church services last month and set out fliers and jugs for donating money at Royal Bagels in Germantown and Jimmie Cone in Damascus and Mount Airy.

"There is absolutely no overhead," Scott Frager said. "Everything we receive in contributions goes directly toward its intended purpose."

The church is serving as the nonprofit organization behind the effort. At a church picnic on Sunday, the congregation wrote messages to the troops on a poster. Later this month, members of the youth ministry plan to write letters to soldiers stationed in Iraq.

"God has just worked this out and put us all together," she said.

Scott Frager said supporting the troops is an issue that should transcend personal opinions about the war.

"The issue is, freedom isn't cheap," he said. "They are our soldiers, and the fact that they are there means we don't have to be. We felt it was our responsibility to see what we could do to help."

The Fragers plan to keep helping after the first shipment of supplies.

"Our expectation is to continue to do this for as long as we've got troops overseas," he said.