Opportunities for People With Disabilities, Southeastern Massachusetts

News

Life Skills Program Supports Our Troops

A group of individuals from Community Connections Life Skills Program in South Yarmouth wanted to thank the troops who serve our country and put themselves in harm’s way every day. They decided that the best way for them to say thank you was to send a couple of care packages to a soldier in Iraq. But the project grew rapidly with the generous donations that they received.
 
Community Connections Life Skills Specialist Wayne Fennel provided oversight and guidance for the group as they solicited items from Community Connections employees, friends, family and businesses in the community.
 
The care package team received a variety of items that they thought our troops would like including toiletries, books, DVDs and note cards. Katie Gibbons obtained a donation of 48 reusable water bottles from Cool Gear, based in Plymouth. The group in turn decided to donate the water bottles to Cape Cod Cares for Our Troops, a non-profit run by a Cape Cod teenager who sends care packages to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan on a weekly basis.
 
Nicholas Xiarhos, a 20-year-old Marine, who is the son of Yarmouth Police Department Lieutenant Steven Xiarhos is the recipient of the care packages. He is based in Iraq and will be there at least until Thanksgiving. Marty Sives’s mother generously donated the shipping costs for the care packages.
 
In an email expressing his gratitude, Lieutenant Xiarhos asked us all to “Never forget that freedom isn’t free and that there are thousands of brave American men and women fighting all over the world every day for all of us.”
 
Congratulations to the care package team for pulling together a successful project and making a difference!