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Project Sews Relief for
Deployed Troops |
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By Paul X. Rutz /
American Forces Press Service |
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Hazel Houck uses a donated
sewing machine to make a
cooling tie in Edmond, Okla.
Houck volunteers with "The
Hugs Project," sending
polymer gel neck scarves and
helmet inserts to deployed
troops.
Courtesy photo
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(From left) Bev Moran, Pam
Carel, Retha Roberson,
Marcia Hatfield, Karen Stark
and Jamee Kiley pose with
care packages containing
polymer gel neck scarves and
helmet inserts ready for
shipment to deployed troops.
Courtesy photo
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WASHINGTON, Feb.
23, 2006 - Karen
Stark never liked to sew. But thanks to her
efforts, deployed servicemembers throughout
the world are getting handmade "cool ties."
The Oklahoma woman has found her mission
organizing groups through "The Hugs
Project," a nonprofit organization she and
her husband, Ray founded to make reusable
neck scarves and helmet liners with polymer
gel inserts that keep cold for hours at a
time.
For years Stark wrote to deployed troops and
sent occasional care packages overseas to
show her support, but she was looking for a
way to help more, she said. One day she
opened an e-mail illustrating how to make
cooling ties for golfers, hikers and
vacationers.
"I knew this was something that could help
our military, that they were fighting really
hot conditions," she said. "I got goose
bumps, and I knew this was what my mission
was, that I was supposed to make cool ties."
Stark said she hadn't sewn in 40 years and
asked friends with sewing experience to
teach her. But instead of teaching her, they
requested the pattern and started making and
sending cooling ties on their own to Marines
Karen knew.
That, Stark said, is when her daughter, Kaci
gave her some helpful advice. "My daughter
said, 'Maybe your job isn't sewing; maybe
your job is telling other people what they
can do.'"
After she learned how to make the cool ties,
Stark went on the Internet, telling people
about her project. She met hundreds of
people willing to help make cooling ties, or
"hugs" as they because affectionately
nicknamed.
"People would say, 'I pray for the military
every day, but I'm a hands-on person. I want
to do something to help,'" Stark said. "This
is what they can do."
The project works in a decentralized way,
sharing information on the Internet and
encouraging most members to manufacture,
pack and send goods on their own. With 1,500
formal members and thousands working
independently, The Hugs Project works with
individuals in nearly every state and 10
foreign countries.
Stark said her particular group meets about
twice a week in and around Oklahoma City,
where she lives. They also travel to
outlying towns and sometimes go on longer
trips to spread the word, setting up formal
groups (called "group hugs") in Colorado,
Texas, Missouri, California and Arizona.
The project also gets help coordinating
through America Supports You, a Defense
Department program facilitating grassroots
and corporate support for the nation's
servicemembers.
The project's members continue perfecting
their designs thanks to feedback from
deployed troops, Stark said.
"We make a helmet cooler that cushions their
helmet," she said, referring to the helmet
coolers as "kisses." "It's got the same
polymer gel in it -- we don't put very much
in there because if you put too much, their
helmet gets bouncy, which is a bad thing."
The project doesn't just keep troops cool,
Stark said. In the winter, the polymer gel
inserts can retain heat just as well as they
keep cold, and they can be reused many times
over. Each "hug" or "kiss" comes with
instructions on how to make it a cooler or a
heater.
When cold weather comes on, the project
switches to winter mode, adding other cold
weather items -- such as hats, neck warmers,
fingerless mittens, blankets and colorful
hats to pass out to Iraqi and Afghan
children -- to their care packages.
In all, the group has sent an estimated
150,000 polymer gel items to troops serving
abroad.
Stark said she is happy to hear from new
members on the project's Web site, but she
suggests that people she hasn't met
personally go to their local VFW to find
addresses for troops overseas.
"When we go out and meet the people
personally and we know in our hearts that
they're not terrorists, then we share
addresses that we have with them," she said.
"But we're very protective of military
addresses -- in fact, to the point that I've
been called paranoid by more than one
military mother who wants me to put their
son's address on the Internet."
Helping the troops in this way feels best
when she gets feedback from them, she said.
"That a stranger actually wants to do
something for them, they think that's
wonderful."
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