Wife of Tulsa Marine sending care packages to Marines in Iraq

Tuesday, April 15th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

While the fighting in Iraq may be winding down, our troops will likely be in Iraq for quite a while. News on 6 Reporter Rick Wells found a Marine wife, in Tulsa, doing what she can to make sure the Marines in her husband's unit get the little things they need.

"Soap, razors, Q-tips." Some of the things Kelly Stuart is boxing up for members of her husband's unit in Iraq. "We don't have a Wal-Mart, can you send me some foot powder." So foot powder, toilet paper, candy, cookies, magazines, all collected by the kids and parents at the Native American Coalition Head Start in west Tulsa. "We sent out a newsletter and the donations came in." So she's putting together little care packages, and in each one she includes a packet of letters.

Her husband's last letter said there were lots of guys not getting any mail, so she got on AOL on her home computer, posted that note on one of those military bulletin boards. "And the letters just started pouring in.â€ So she went to Kinkos, made some copies now there are plenty for everybody. Each of the boxes she's making up has plenty of stuff that can be passed around.

She saved her husband's for last, it gets a special note from her, then lots of tape to make sure it all stays together...All that left is to get them to the post office. At some point I think it occurred to us that the Post Office on tax day might be a little busy, but the line wasn't long and the wait not too bad. "Do you have all the customs forms filled out for all of these?" The other folks in line didn't seem to mind too much; all that's left is to pay the freight. "$139.25â€ All of that by the way came out of her own pocket.

Kelly Stuart's collection project at her daughter's Head Start in west Tulsa will continue for another couple of weeks. If you'd like to help, you can contact them at 446-7972