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© 2013 KentuckyGuard
Program will provide gifts for 454 kids in 168 families
Story courtesy The State Journal http://state-journal.com/
By Kevin Wheatley, Published: December 18, 2013
Linda Jones, left, Brooks O’Neal and Cindy Culver pick out gifts for a family with three boys. (Dylan Buell/dbuell@state-journal.com)
(Editor’s note: This story has updated numbers of children and families supported by the program)
FRANKFORT, Ky. — A sign outside a room at the Boone National Guard Center stocked with toys intended for underprivileged military families lets visitors know they’re stepping into the North Pole.
The nondescript room might as well be Santa’s workshop during the holidays as Kentucky National Guard staff sort through gifts, some of which will be the only presents nestled beneath the tree on Christmas morning.
Click here for more photos of Operation Military Cheer.
Books O’Neal, 6, puts a skateboard into a bag that has gifts for a military family with three boys. (Dylan Buell/dbuell@state-journal.com)
Called Operation Military Cheer, the program’s cache of toys - everything from board games to Barbie dolls to Legos to bicycles - has dwindled in recent days because the distribution of gifts has begun.
Essentials, such as grocery gift cards and infant food, are also provided through
Operation Military Cheer.
This year the holiday program will provide gifts for 454 Kentucky children, whose parents serve in all branches of military services. That’s one more child than last year, but organizers expect additional requests for assistance will come as late as Christmas Eve.
“That’s our payoff in the end, is knowing that the National Guard’s made a difference,” said Cindy Culver, lead organizer for Operation Military Cheer. “I’d like to be a fly on the wall on some of these Christmas mornings. These kids come around the corner, they’ve had bicycles in front of the tree and probably may not have had anything if it wasn’t for this program.”
The program has grown considerably since Culver’s first involvement in 2007, when her husband, Maj. Tim Culver, was deployed on a training mission to Africa. Fewer than 100 children had registered that year, Cindy Culver said, noting participation has risen every year since.
Pfc. Joe Lovely carries bags containing gifts to a van for distribution. (Dylan Buell/dbuell@state-journal.com)
Families seeking assistance are typically steered to the program through a military point of contact, usually a first sergeant, said Linda Jones, another Operation Military Cheer coordinator. Once approved, the family will usually submit a Christmas list for their children by Black Friday, and then collect a garbage bag filled with unwrapped toys either at the Boone National Guard Center or the nearest armory.Those moments tend to be emotional, Culver and Jones said. A number of active duty and reserve military families struggle through the holidays, either with spouses serving overseas or trouble finding steady work or some other hardship, so any assistance is met with the utmost gratitude. Those involved in the program, more often than not, reciprocate the feelings.
Culver recalled one military wife who requested help in 2008. Her husband had been deployed overseas, and the holidays had stretched the family’s finances thin. “She had two little girls, and her goal was to have them riding bicycles by the time her husband came home from deployment,” Culver said. “I hooked them up with two bicycles, and she sent me a video . of one of the girls riding down the sidewalk meeting dad at the end in a military uniform.
Pfc. Brittni Sherman, left, and Pfc. Joe Lovely put bags of gifts into a van Wednesday morning. The van will make stops at National Guard bases in Lexington, Richmond and London, and the gifts will then be distributed to military families in the area. (Dylan Buell/dbuell@state-journal.com)
“I had to close down my computer, and I took a walk around the pond, and I cried the whole way around the pond.”
Anyone can “adopt” a military family through Operation Military Cheer by calling the program’s toll-free phone line at 800-372-7601 or on the Kentucky National Guard’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/KentuckyGuard.
Any extra toys collected for the program go to the Galilean Children’s Home in Liberty,
Culver said.
The nonprofit Home Builders Association of Lexington is a large donor, she said. The Kentucky National Guard partnered with the organization earlier this month for a toy drive.
The Lexington-Bluegrass Association of Realtors and the Disabled American Veterans are also contributors, Culver said, and Operation Homefront provides dollar-store toys at the program’s Christmas dinners at each of the 15 armories where gifts are delivered.
“You can’t be up here working and be a Grinch,” said Kentucky National Guard spokesman David Altom, who once helped coordinate Operation Military Cheer. “It wears on you. Your
heart’ll grow three sizes.”
dwa
By Paul Glasser
Frankfort State-Journal
Staff Sgt. Klinton Burke, of Frankfort, and his wife, Jamie, kiss their 10-month-old daughter, Rylea. Klinton returned home from Afghanistan Feb. 4. State Journal/Hannah Reel
(please visit the Frankfort State-Journal’s website to see the story as well: How could he leave this?)
Staff Sgt. Klinton Burke of Frankfort now has time to be a father to his 10-month-old baby after spending 11 months as a truck driver and mechanic in Afghanistan.
Klinton, 30, was one of about 150 soldiers from the 2123rd Transportation Company in the Kentucky National Guard who returned home in early February. He’s now spending time with his wife, Jamie, and daughter, Rylea.
Klinton arrived in Afghanistan on March 22, 2010, and Rylea was born April 19. He came home to visit May 3-19 but didn’t see her again until last week.
Leaving for Afghanistan when he knew his daughter would soon be born was difficult, he says. It was also an emotional moment when he had to go back overseas.
“It was the hardest thing a dad would have to do,” he said.
He was stationed at Bagram Airfield in eastern Afghanistan and was able to receive mail and packages every Tuesday. His wife sent candy, hunting videos and mini-DVDs she recorded of Rilea crawling and playing.
“Tuesday was the day of the week I looked forward to,” Klinton said. “I got to watch her grow up.”
Rylea likes to watch the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on TV and dance along with the show’s “Hot Dog” song.
In a recent interview, Rylea wore a onesie with the words “My heart belongs to daddy.” She played with toys, sucked on her bottle and cried briefly when her father prevented her from picking up the reporter’s tape recorder.
Klinton and Jamie said they plan to buy a new baby seat so Rylea can ride in Klinton’s old Dodge truck.
When she’s old enough, Klinton said he wants to teach Rylea to hunt - it’s one of his favorite pastimes.
Klinton said he also enjoys giving his wife a hard time - they were married on Dec. 5, 2009, but had little time to be a family because of training and the mission to Afghanistan. He said he doesn’t want to go back overseas.
“Rylea’s more important,” Klinton said.
He was previously deployed stateside in 2003 and 2004 as well as Iraq in 2006 and 2007. He was a mechanic at Camp Taji near Baghdad and said morale there was “through the roof.” Although fighting between Sunni and Shiite factions
raged through Iraq, Klinton was never attacked.
However, the mission to Afghanistan was much more difficult. His unit traveled more than 600,000 miles on convoy escort missions. They were attacked 40 times, and five soldiers were seriously wounded.
“We were not unscathed,” Klinton said, with tears in his eyes. “The mental and emotional aspect of it probably took the worst hit. Seeing friends get hurt, we had to be soldiers instead of humans, if that makes any sense. We drove on. War doesn’t make sense.”
But knowing his wife and baby were home helped keep him going.
He also credited his truck partner Pfc. Jeremiah Fleming, from Fleming County, with helping him stay focused.
“During the hard times he helped keep me sane,” Klinton said.
Another local soldier returned home with the 2123rd Transportation Company -Chris Adcock. He went to Franklin County High School with Klinton where he said the two were “trouble makers.” Adcock was assigned to the headquarters
platoon.
Lt. Ed “Gus” LaFontaine IV, of Berea, received the Bronze Star for valor when he helped rescue two men from the 2123rd Transportation Company wounded by an explosion in an ambush. He is the grandson of Frankfort’s Ed LaFontaine Jr., a World War II Navy pilot.
His grandson has spent 12 years in the National Guard, and it was his second deployment. Ed LaFontaine IV doesn’t say much about the incident for which he was decorated, according to this grandfather.
“He doesn’t brag about it,” said Ed LaFontaine Jr.
His grandson is a teacher and plans to open a pre-kindergarten school next year, Ed LaFontaine Jr. said.
Nine other soldiers in the unit were also decorated with the Bronze Star, and 80 received the Combat Action Badge.
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