Blankets for the troops

Blankets for the troops
By Ray Reyes

FLORIDA- Warmth is on the way.  Just one more month, Barbara Seaman promises, until she’s gathered enough of that warmth to go around.  “I have 25 blankets right now,” Seaman said.
She’s 75 blankets short.

By the first week of March, Seaman hopes 100 U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq will be bundled up in the blankets she started collecting last December.  Troops were giving away their military-issue blankets to homeless children and families in Fallujah, Seaman said. “For every three soldiers, there’s only one blanket,” she said.

Seaman found out about this shortage from her husband Ronald Jr., a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army’s Special Forces currently stationed at Homestead Air Force Base in Dade County. He has been in contact with many of his buddies in the war zone who told him of the shortage.
Barbara has a personal stake in her blanket drive because her husband is on a list of soldiers who may be sent to Iraq in the coming months.

“I wouldn’t want my husband to be cold,” Seaman said. “I don’t want him to freeze.”
The donations started Dec. 1. Soon after, her co-workers at the pediatric clinic of doctors G.M. Ramappa, Monica Botsch and Phimagham Premkanth on Mariner Boulevard began helping Seaman, who’s a medical assistant there.

“I wasn’t too familiar with the situation over (in Iraq),” said co-worker Janet Garofano. “Three soldiers to one blanket? That’s ridiculous. I hope (Seaman) gets at least 100.”
The doctors at the clinic have given Seaman permission to talk to their patients to see if they’re willing to help.

Last week, one patient gave Seaman $100 to buy more blankets or to help pay for postage. Recently, another patient managed to persuade neighbors to donate 15 blankets.
Representatives of the Wal-Mart Supercenter on U.S. 19 told Seaman that they would donate 15 more after Valentine’s Day.

Tina Bellino, another co-worker, said she’s going blanket shopping Friday night.
“I’ll pick up as many as I can,” Bellino said.

Seaman’s bosses said they don’t have a problem if people living in or near Spring Hill, Florida want to drop off donations at their clinic at 4063 Mariner Blvd., just past Northcliffe on the east side of the busy street.

“I think this is a wonderful thing,” Premkanth said.

The blankets are starting to cover up every square foot of open space in the master bedroom of Seaman’s Spring Hill home. She’s got blankets of different colors and varying sizes.
“She could use them to cover up the bird cages in her house,” joked Garofano. “She has 20 birds. It’s crazy.”

Twin-size blankets are the optimal size for a soldier, Seaman said, because they’re small and light enough to be quickly folded and stuffed into a field pack.

Helping out the military community has become a way of life for Seaman. When her family lived in Germany for 10 years, Seaman comforted the newcomers.  “It was culture shock,” Seaman said. “I always cried. So I wanted to help other families adjust. I’ve always volunteered as much as I can.”

She understands the demands asked of a military wife. Her husband is home only 100 days out of the year. If he goes to Iraq, Seaman said she wants to ensure that he takes a little warmth from home with him – and that other soldiers can feel the same warmth as well.
“Anything,” Seaman said. “Anything that can help.”

She hopes to continue sending packages of blankets to troops throughout the year.
For now, the first batch of blankets are folded and stacked in her bedroom, their promises of warmth dormant for now.

As soon as she reaches her goal of the first 100, the package goes out by the end of February.
“The blankets are only a little thing we could do,” Seaman said. “Too bad they’re not bulletproof blankets.”

HOW TO HELP

Barabara Seaman hopes to have 100 blankets for U.S. troops sent by the end of February. You can reach her via her e-mail address, [email protected]. Donations can also be dropped off at her workplace at 4063 Mariner Blvd., a pediatric clinic.