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Imagine driving home from the base exchange with your spouse and child. It’s Christmastime – the first away from the rest of your family – and the thought pops into your mind, “What can I do for others who are away from their families as well?”
It was at this moment that Project Rudolph was born, as founder Tawny Archibald Campbell, her husband and their daughter decided to give a “piece” of the holidays to deployed troops in the form of goodie bags.
The bags are filled with American and German candy (if available), three letters (two from children and one from an adult), an ornament, a candy cane and a poem called “Servicemember’s Christmas.”
“We want each bag to be personal,” Mrs. Campbell said. “The bags are hand decorated, the letters are handwritten – no photo copies or computer print outs – and the bags are assembled by hand. There is a lot of love that goes into each of these bags, and we want that to be conveyed to our troops.”
For the two weeks leading up to Christmas, the bags are handed out to those deployed or deploying through the Kaiserslautern Military Community at the Ramstein Passenger Terminal and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.
Bags are also mailed from Germany or the stateside headquarters in Idaho, headed by Mrs. Campbell’s parents Ray and Cheri Archibald, to deployed servicemembers downrange. Since Project Rudolph began in 2006, the number of bags given to those deployed has increased from 3,000 to more than 10,000 bags.
“The bags provide a degree of comfort and support to troops headed downrange through the letters,” the Project Rudolph founder said. “We had one servicemember tell us it was the only present he got on Christmas that year. Another wife e-mailed to tell us her husband came home from Iraq with the bag in his hand, and it was wonderful for her to know we were there for him. If we hand out 1,000 bags and it touches two lives, then that was enough and worth all of the work.”
Donations for the bags are collected throughout the year from members in the KMC, as well as stateside. To date, about 14 countries and 46 states have given donations in support of this project.
“One grandma in southern Idaho hand wrote 1,000 letters for Project Rudolph. She wrote 20 letters a day until she had written 1,000,” Mrs. Campbell said.
“Another woman in Illinois collected more than 200 pounds of candy for us. She got the word out and collected Halloween candy. She didn’t buy it, just collected it from others. Another woman and her daughter worked throughout the year and wrote 200 letters, decorated 1,000 bags and made 1,000 ornaments.”
Mrs. Campbell is not alone in making this project a success each and every year. This year she had help from a leadership team that helped manage the project. She also had a dedicated volunteer coordinator, community liaison and event coordinator, as well as those who volunteer, to help make the bags and hand them out at the PAX terminal.
“It was so touching to see their faces light up,” said Linda Madrid, Project Rudolph volunteer, after volunteering at the PAX terminal.
Mrs. Campbell said the inspiration behind Project Rudolph comes from a saying by American author Edward Everett Hale, “I am only one, but I am one, I cannot do everything, but I can do something …”
“We are here in a unique position,” she said. “We have access to the PAX terminal. As a military spouse, I have access to troops. As the spouse of someone who was deployed, I know how I felt every time someone showed me or my spouse support. I want to be more than the person who says they support our military; I want to be the person who actually does something. That is how most of our volunteers feel too; they want to do something.”
As volunteers of Project Rudolph send holiday greetings downrange, Mrs. Campbell said she hopes once she moves to a new location with her husband those here will carry on the project.
“The charity was designed to provide a bit of cheer to those who said goodbye to loved ones and would be spending the holidays away from family,” she said. “We hope that in the years to come, we will have volunteers from the KMC step up and make sure that continues to happen.”
For those interested in the project or to have a bag sent to a deployed friend or family member, visit www.projectrudolph.org or e-mail tawny@projecttlcserves.org.
