SAAC, Campus and Community Contribute to Efforts in Afghanistan
The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at Washington and Lee is
working with groups across campus and within the community to
assemble and send 500 care packages to soldiers in Afghanistan.
Rolf Piranian, the men's head soccer coach, launched the first
soldier care package drive three years ago. Under the supervision
of SAAC, Washington and Lee collected items for 200 soldiers in the
HHC First Brigade, Special Troops Battalion of the 82nd
Airborne. This brigade has since returned to the United
States.
This year, SAAC has taken on a heftier challenge of organizing the
drive to collect items for the 468 soldiers of the Blackhawk
Battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division.
"We were asked if we were able to sponsor a Battalion made up of
five companies, thus doubling our effort from years past," said
Sarah Simpson, captain of the women's swim team and the SAAC
co-chair of the Package Committee. "We discussed the logistical
issues associated with taking on nearly 500 soldiers instead of our
usual 200, but in the end decided that it would not be right to
send care packages to only half of the Battalion. We realized
that there were several avenues that had not been tapped in the
past. We knew that in order to be able to provide items to 486 men
and women, we needed to realize every donation source
possible."
SAAC has not only involved other Washington and Lee
student-athletes but also has mobilized the community. Each varsity
team is responsible for accruing a large amount of a particular
item for the care packages. Based on suggestions from the soldiers,
the packages will include such items as magazines, books, lip balm,
powdered drink mixes, nonperishable snacks, razors, and much more.
Some teams asked members to bring a single item, while others
designated one member to purchase everything in bulk.
For example, Emily Leary, SAAC member and soccer goalie, bought 125
tubes of travel toothpaste for the women's soccer donation.
"It takes around 17 minutes to u-scan 125 travel toothpastes," she
said. "Let's just say I didn't make friends in the checkout line at
Walmart. Nonetheless, knowing someone halfway across the world
would appreciate this more than I can imagine made it all
worthwhile."
The community has stepped in to help as well. Local dentists
donated 600 toothbrushes, students at the elementary schools wrote
letters for the soldiers, and professors collected toothpaste and
crackers. Notably, longtime university employee Thomas Bane, known
as "Baner" by generations of students, donated 486 copies of his
book Family and Honor.
"The Bane family donation was an unexpected and wonderful
surprise," said Sallie Armstrong, secretary of SAAC and captain of
the field hockey and track and field teams. "This is a great
addition to the boxes because the soldiers can get a better idea of
what our community is like and the sense of honor we have
here."
Work remains to be done, though. The cost of shipping alone will be
$6,000. SAAC has collected about $2,000 with donations from
community members, students and parents. The Washington and Lee
athletics department has agreed to use various resources to make up
the difference between contributions and shipping costs.
Care packages will be assembled today and the SAAC plans to ship
them by the end of next week so they will arrive by late
November.
Simpson added, "All of these contributions have come as surprises
to me, but prove that even though the economy has been better, at
the end of the day people still care. That kind of selfless
generosity has been so encouraging."
This release was written by Washington and Lee
University student-athlete, Maggie Sutherland, for The NCAA
News. Sutherland is a senior soccer player for the
Generals.