Subs for soldiers
Community volunteers help sell hoagies to support troopsBy Greg Bock, gbock@altoonamirror.com
Article Photos
Help for area soldiers deployed in Iraq came Thursday one hoagie at a time.
"It went wonderful," said Hope Benning, whose brother, Brian Weaver, is among the 166 soldiers from Company B, Second Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment, 56th Stryker Brigade, Pennsylvania Army National Guard. "One guy came in, got four hoagies and gave $200."
The daylong sale, organized through the Sankertown VFW Ladies Auxiliary, raised money to help send overseas care packages that already are sitting at the armory.
"You don't realize how bad it is over there until you have someone over there," said Altoona resident Nikki Ferrucci.
Ferrucci's older brother, Lou Ferrucci Jr., is a full-time guardsman stationed at Fort Indiantown Gap, and a veteran of a 2006 tour in Kosovo and Hurricane Katrina relief in 2005. She said she believes as the war has gone on, people sometimes forget there are men and women away from home in harm's way.
She said one person bought a hoagie Thursday and left a $100.
It's that spirit of community support that family members said helps them get through the separation from their soldiers.
"It's keeping me going," Carla Weaver said. "It's keeping my mind off of it."
The Weaver family said they try to keep in contact as much as they can with their 23-year-old son, a driver of one of the Brigade's Stryker vehicles, through e-mail and the occasional phone call.
"Not as often as I'd like to," said his father, Wayne Weaver.
"You would think you'd get used to it because it's the second time," said Somerset County resident Judy Floyd, whose 26-year-old son A.J. Floyd is serving his second tour in Iraq attached to Bravo Company. She and her husband, Bill Floyd, made the drive to help out Thursday.
"It's scary just having him over there," she said.
Bill Floyd said the soldiers "were slightly blessed" to come from a region of the country where support for the troops still is strong.
"Here, as well as our area, it's fantastic, I think," he said, adding churches, groups and individuals are constantly looking for ways to help the soldiers.
Organizers estimate more than 800 hoagies were sold Thursday, and because everything that went into them was donated by companies such as U.S. Foods Inc., Sheetz, Subway, Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Sam's Club, every dollar that came in will go to seeing that soldiers receive a bit of home.
Still, from the look on the faces of those with loved ones in uniform, the day everyone is really looking forward to is when the troops return at the end of September, which still is a long way off.
When Jean Dively, whose grandson, Brandon Fink, of Claysburg is deployed, watches television, any mention of a bombing in Iraq has her worrying.
"I just sit and wait for someone to come to the door, and you don't know how you're going to react," she said. "So far, so good."
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Mcguff
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05-02-09 8:14 AM
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I want to thank everyone involved with the planing of this event. Also to the people who supported the sale of hoagies may God bless you. My son Pfc. Jake McGarvey is with Bravo Co.and I know they appreciate the support that our community shows them. May God bless our troops and bring them home safe.
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lambs1
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05-01-09 7:22 PM
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Again, I would have to suggest keeping the snide comments on the appropriate articles.
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natasha
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05-01-09 6:27 PM
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***lambs*** With your posting reputation you don't have any room to be handing out advice! ~~ ***skyler*** I don't think you meant to sound negative but it came out that way. ****Hope**** Congratulations on a job well done!
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lambs1
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05-01-09 6:05 PM
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skyler, This was a great event and alot of good people helping to make this happen. Unless you are being helpful in some manner to provide what these wonderful people have find another site to post your snide comments. They don't belong here!
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HopeBenning
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05-01-09 5:10 PM
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Everyone had gloves on while they were working with the hoagies. The photographer asked the customer & the volunteer to go over next to the hoagies to act like he was selling it to him so you could see all of the hoagies. We actually had a table set up away from the food table where the money was exchanged & after the hoagies were bagged they were placed in a cooler until they were sold. Please don't make something bad out of something so good.
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skyler
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05-01-09 4:33 PM
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with the virus. "WHY DON'T THE WORKERS HAVE PLASTIC GLOVES ON!!!!!!!" Well this will sure put Blair Cty on the map!
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skyler
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05-01-09 4:32 PM
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Very nice event.. But with the aH1C1 virus
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RidgeRunner
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05-01-09 12:58 PM
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Good work Hope et al. Best wishes to our soldiers and their families.
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HopeBenning
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05-01-09 12:00 PM
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Thank you to everyone who supported this effort, it was a great success & without the help of EVERYONE involved, it never would have been. P.S. By the end of the day, we sold over 1,000 & donated what was left to those who needed it.
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HopeBenning
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05-01-09 11:59 AM
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& she came back to get an update to give to everyone on how it went, following her departure, TV-10 pulled in to do a story as well. The media actually gave me a wealth of support which I very much appreciated. Throughout the day, many people who attended expressed their interest in helping the effort to support our soldiers in any upcoming events. That being said, I feel compelled to organize an event to involve everyone who handed me business cards, gave me phone numbers & I advised the media that anyone who would like to help in future projects, please call the Armory & leave your name & contact information so that when I have the next project slated, I have a list of volunteers that I can depend on. The willingness of the community to show support to our family members deployed overseas lifts our hearts, I can only imagine what it does for these men when they see it happen.
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HopeBenning
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05-01-09 11:58 AM
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I organized this event in support of my brother and his fellow Bravo soldiers with backing from several local non-profit organizations and I used every possible source for donations including the media to make the event a success, I had no budget to work with, however the Altoona Mirror staff was so kind as to run an ad on the back page of section A prior to the event that invited the public to come, they even gave recognition to the product donors & the organizations who helped. You simply missed it. It did prompt the participation of several local businesses who did see it & called me asking to help. In addition, Forever Broadcasting periodically mentioned it on each of their local stations (I believe there are 9) on the days leading up to the event as well as throughout the day asking for people to come. Abbie Tang from WJAC-6, who said she saw the article in the Altoona Mirror, arrived in time to interview me & promote the event on their noon edition news...
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lambs1
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05-01-09 8:43 AM
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I hear you Retired!
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retiredarmy20years
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05-01-09 7:54 AM
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That's just great. Too bad the article is written AFTER THE FACT. I would have loved to participate or purchase some hoagies. If I would only have known before the day, after the sale. The day prior or even the day of the sale would have been nice to read about it or see it advertised on TV or hear about it on the radio.
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KathyC
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05-01-09 7:22 AM
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Blessings for safety to all our soldiers and their families....
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