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The Wounded Warrior
Ministry Center began as some boxes in a hallway,
full of donations from the staff and community. Today,
it fills a couple of temporary buildings, something of a
miniature PX where Landstuhl patients can pick up personal
items to get them through a few days at the hospital.
All the items represent the generosity of American people,
says Landstuhl's senior chaplain., Col. James Griffith.
"Civilian clothes are not a class of military supply," he
says. "This is more like humanitarian aid to our
soldiers." Patients usually
take one to two t-shirts, tow white undershirts, a sweatshirt
and loose-fitting sweat pants, two to three pairs of boxers or
boxer briefs, four pairs of socks, shower shoes and a duffel
bag to carry it all. Women's undergarments are also
stocked, as well as house slippers, athletic shoes, flannel
pajama bottoms, washcloths, nail clippers and travel-size
toiletries: deodorant, shampoo, shaving gel, toothbrushes and
toothpaste.
Donations also allow the "chaplain's
closet" to offer CDs, DVDs handheld games, phone cards, puzzle
books, snack bars, chocolate, candy, chewing gum, and greeting
cards for family or friends.
The hospital can't, and doesn't,
solicit contributions, so Griffith credits churches, charities
and veterans service organizations - including The American
Legion - for providing these and other comfort items that he
says make a patient's stay "a bit more palatable and a bit
more pleasant." Dozens of boxes arrive every day. Since
9/11, an estimated $2 million in goods and money have been
donated.
Volunteers pay their own way to
Germany to work at the Wounded Warrior Ministry Center.
Last year, Karen Grimord of Stafford, VA., spent 30 days
there, receiving deliveries and making sure patients found
items they needed. With a father, father-in-law,
husband, son, son-in-law, two brothers, brother-in-law, cousin
and two nephews who are veterans - "an American Legion
Family," she says - Grimord pours a lot of time and money into
helping LRMC.
"It's the troops," she says.
"All you've got to do is talk to them, and you know right away
that you have to do more."
While the Department of Defense gives
all OEF and OIF patients a $250 voucher to the Army/Air Force
Exchange Service, that money stretches only so far. So
Grimord founded the Landstuhl Hospital Care Project, which
posts a list of what the hospital needs - and doesn't need -
at
www.LandstuhlHospitalCareProject.Org. Patients, for
instance, don't want full-size toiletries; most stay only a
few days. Old magazines, men's briefs, single razor
blades, water bottles, canned food and adaptive foot or hand
covers also take up valuable space.
So what do they want? Dark
clothes are in - black, gray, blue. And nothing with a
corporate logo; patients don't want to feel like a walking
advertisement. But they do have a sense of humor.
Last fall, soldiers went bananas over a large donation of
flannel pants featuring the "Sarge" character from the
Pixar/Walt Disney animated film "Cars."
"They're the most popular PJ's I've
seen in three years of volunteering," Grimord says, laughing.
"Sarge is loved dearly." |
