School, real estate office team up to help Navy squadron

Once again generous hearts of Carson Valley have come together to send packages to U.S. military men and women deployed overseas.

During the first week of December, classes at Minden Elementary School shipped boxes to troops they had adopted.

"We had 22 soldiers," said MES counselor Mary Garcia. "Every classroom and even the office took one."

Garcia said the school undertakes a charitable Christmas project each year.

"This year, we realized that we have many students impacted by parents and relatives deployed - dads, brothers and sisters," Garcia said. "Just the enthusiasm has been fantastic. Parents have gotten involved, and the whole community has come together for the effort."

On Dec. 3, teacher Marlene Moyer and her fifth- and sixth-grade students were preparing to ship two boxes to Afghanistan.

"I think it's easy to get caught up in our own lives when there are other people out there making real big sacrifices," Moyer said. "This helps remind the kids that they are part of a bigger country, a bigger family."

Both boxes were stuffed with protein bars, hand wipes, magazines, beef jerky, books, playing cars, lip balm, Q-Tips and even an I-Pod, among other things.

"Before Thanksgiving, we sent letters," Moyer said. "That was the first step. The second is sending packages for the holidays."

Moyer's class adopted U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Greg Mendenhall, who is on a scheduled deployment to the U.S. Fifth Fleet area on the USS Nimitz to provide direct air support to ground forces operating in Afghanistan. The "Indians" of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 6 consist of more than 200 sailors.

"Whatever he gets, he shares with his whole squadron," Moyer said.

Mendenhall is the uncle of fifth-grade student Brandon Easley.

"This shows that we care not just about my uncle, but about everyone with him," the 11-year-old said. "It makes not just him feel special, but everyone."

Two days before, Brandon had talked to his uncle via Skype.

"He told us he was shipping out and wouldn't be able to talk again until after Christmas," Brandon said.

His mother and Mendenhall's sister, Re/Max Realtor Ginger Easley, bolstered Moyer's contributions with 45 more boxes of goodies. She said about 50 real estate agents, clients, friends and neighbors came together for the cause.

"When Greg said there were 200 people in his squadron, and whatever he gets he's going to share, that number really hit me," Easley said.

On Thursday, Easley and a group of helpers were in the conference room at the Re/Max office in Gardnerville readying the 40-plus boxes for shipment.

Easley pointed to a note on the labels that read, "Santa, please hurry. This is important!"

"It's hard," Easley said of her brother's deployment overseas. "He's a fabulous guy with a wife and two kids in San Diego. We're trying to help them through this. We're doing our best."

Volunteers helped pack pistachio nuts, chips, jerky, gum, trail mix, toothbrushes, movies, magazines, books and other items.

Easley said one of her clients moving to the Valley from the Bay Area tried to send 22 homemade cookies over the mountains, but was prevented by the snow storm. The client later got the cookies to Gardnerville by Thursday. Another client from Hawthorne couldn't make it up for the event, Easley said, but sent a $100 check instead.

"When you reach out, you find that people are looking for something to help with," Easley said. "They're looking for that avenue, that connection, and then the floodgates really open."