The Gateway Blue Star Mothers recently started partnering with Oakville Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2184 to collect donations for upcoming projects in support of active troops and military families.
The Blue Star Mothers are a group of military mothers, fathers and others who support and provide for local military service members, veterans and military families.
The local Gateway chapter sends Cookies for the Troops overseas every November. As part of the new partnership with VFW Post 2184, 6327 Lemay Ferry Road, the Blue Star Mothers are starting a new program to send care packages to troops every month.
The VFW collected four truckloads of snacks on POW/MIA Remembrance Day Sept. 15 at the Arnold Wal-Mart for the Gateway Blue Star Mothers to send in their care packages, use for Cookies for the Troops or donate to the Jefferson Barracks Food Pantry.
Volunteers from both organizations sorted and packed hundreds of pounds of donations. The VFW will serve as a drop-off point for anyone who would like to make food donations for Cookies for the Troops, the monthly care packages or the food pantry, along with the USO of Missouri.
The Gateway Blue Star Mothers have been asked by the national Wreaths Across America organization to take the lead on the local event at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery this year. In the annual event, which will take place Dec. 16 this year, Boy Scouts and other volunteers lay wreaths on graves at the military cemetery, following a ceremony.
Anyone can sponsor a wreath for $15 per wreath.
To donate or volunteer to lay wreaths, visit https://wreaths.fastport.com/donateLocation.html?page=18311.