By Greg Ellison

Staff Writer

(Nov. 14, 2019) Judging by the community generosity exhibited during the Star Charities annual “Holiday Gifts for Soldiers,” recently departed co-founder Anna Foultz would have been proud, as members sent a record haul to provide comfort for Armed Forces members stationed overseas.

Foultz, who launched Star Charities in 2007 with her husband, Carl, died in late September, just as the annual collection drive was beginning.

Subsequently, Star Charities member Larry Walton coordinated the charitable effort with an array of Ocean Pines community organizations. Participating groups included the Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines and Ocean City, AARP Ocean Pines chapter 4507, Sons of Italy Ocean City Lodge #2747 and the Ocean Pines Boat Club.

“I’m always trying to get the clubs to work together and maybe this is a stepping stone,” he said.

While confessing amazement at the wealth of donations being shipped on Friday with Jeff Merritt, president and co-founder of Operation We Care, Star Charities member Sue Walter said, other than retiring the groups’ name, no firm decisions have been made about future endeavors.

“We haven’t gotten together yet as a group,” she said.

On Friday, Merritt, who launched Operation We Care in 2007, with his wife, Diana, collected a wide range of non-perishable items donated during October.

“We’ve been doing this for 12 years and sending care packages to the troops,” he said. “I think we’re around 17,000 and will hit 18,000 in about nine days.”

Based in Salisbury, Operation We Care conducts charitable drives in May and November.

“It takes me six months to recover and prepare for the next one,” he said.

The group’s upcoming effort will directly affect nearly 1,000 military members, Merritt said.

“The packages we pack up in nine days are going to … 12 countries and two ships,” he said.

Moreover, Merritt said the residual impact on friends and family members who learn later about the kindness of strangers is incalculable.

“Letting them know someone besides their family cares about what’s going on,” he said.

The care packages are especially appreciated by those in far-away places during the holiday season, Merritt said.

“They’re all going to miss Thanksgiving [and] they’re all going to miss Christmas,” he said. “Holidays are a particularly lonely time.”

Stressing attention to detail, Merritt said the outreach effort always assures each member of deployed units are included.

“There’s always somebody not getting something from home in a unit. I don’t care if it’s five people or 300,” he said. “The larger the number, the more people are not getting stuff from home [and] that’s who we really want to reach.”

Although Operation We Care is generally overseen by a skeleton crew, those numbers swell to roughly 300 volunteers when packing day arrives, Merritt said.

“We’ll pack 800-1,000 boxes in three hours,” he said.

The mammoth undertaking involves sorting and organizing donations sufficient to fill a trio of storage units and enclosed trailers.

“Our house right now looks like an Amazon fulfillment center,” he said. “My wife’s got great patience with me.”

Merritt said his survival of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks precipitated the group’s formation.

“I was at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001,” he said.

His office was on the opposite side of the building from where a hijacked Boeing 757 plunged into the Defense Department headquarters, killing 125 people.

Merritt said he recently crossed paths with a fellow survivor who was far closer to ground zero.

“I actually talked to a guy two weeks ago whose office was 40 feet from the impact site,” he said. “He was a lot closer than I was [and] two people in his office were killed.”

Upon discovering their connection, Merritt said the pair shared recollections for several hours.

“A day I hope we never have to relive,” he said. “When we connected, a fire alarm could have gone off … we were pretty much in our own little world.”

In addition to organizing mass mailings of care packages twice a year, funds collected by Operation We Care also support local Veterans Administration programs in Pocomoke and Cambridge.

“They have various veterans programs and veterans they’re getting into housing,” he said. “We redirect those resources to them.”

Cash donations are also used to finance postage expenses.

“From this packing event, we will spend between $15,000-$17,000 on postage,” he said. “We spent $41,000 total last year.”

While uncertainty remains concerning the future of members of the now-ended Star Charities, Walton remains hopeful the positivity can be harnessed.

“We will come up, probably, with something because … it’s the first time I’ve seen this many groups together,” he said. “I think if we can do this as a group, look what we can do.”

Walter concurred and said any undertakings should be based in Ocean Pines to honor the inspiration Foultz provided to the larger community.

“For what Anna has meant to us individually, and expanded through all of the groups that have participated, thank you Anna,” she said.