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Local group joins effort to collect items for OPERATION: Take a Soldier to the Movies
By Neil Rhines
Herald Times Reporter
CLEVELAND — OPERATION: Take a Soldier to the Movies has been engaged.
“Operation” is a national grassroots program designed to support the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan by keeping them entertained. Locally, Tootsie Sommers, chapter president of Phi Theta Kappa, is looking for a few good movies.
Phi Theta Kappa has begun collecting DVD movies, popcorn, candy, drink mixes, letters to the soldiers and cash donations. Drop sites have been stationed at the LTC campuses in Manitowoc, Sheboygan and Cleveland, and people are responding.
Sommers and Ellyn Ahmad, another member of PTK, said they are thrilled by the response that word-of-mouth and their posters alone have generated. Five cardboard boxes are already filled, and the deadline before shipment has been delayed until March 3, in hopes that the project will draw more interest.
Sommers said she is hoping for more help on the project. In fact, she’s so dedicated to the idea that while drop sites are available, she’ll personally come and pick up movies and other supplies from people in the area.
According to Ahmad, she and her husband, employees at Kohler Company, have also begun to hang signs there, and their son, Zadil, used his money to purchase a Richard Pryor movie for the troops.
Sommers said PTK is always looking for ways to help out in the community. One of their members, Kristy Milburn, has a fiance currently on active duty.
Sommers said his troop was thrilled to receive some donated movies through the program, and when Milburn brought up the idea it received 100 percent support.
And to Ahmad, “this project has meaning.”
Ahmad said the son of one of the women she works with at Kohler is the only survivor of the attack that took the life of Staff Sgt. Chuck Kiser of Cleveland, in June in Iraq.
“(The troops) have to have some enjoyment,” she said.
For people who want to help but don’t know how, Sommers suggests writing letters. The letters should be addressed, “To any soldier,” as it is uncertain who will read the letter.
Sommers said it may be difficult thinking of what to write to a person you’ve never met, but suggests keeping it simple and honest, and letting them know that you’re looking forward to when they come home.
Also, leave a return address so soldiers can return correspondence.
Neil Rhines: (920) 686-2105 or
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