Generosity of Emporians stocks military hospital in Iraq with cold treats
By Bobbi Mlynar
Friday, July 20, 2007
A U.S. military trauma hospital in Balad, Iraq, is filled to the brim with freezer pops from Kansas.
Master Sgt. Sherry Hertlein of Emporia, who is stationed at the hospital, wrote to The Gazette late last month to ask for help in getting treats for injured troops and civilians; most of the civilians treated at the hospital are children.
“It is extremely hot here and one of the injured troops’ favorite things to get for a cool treat is freezer pops,” Hertlein wrote then.
In the summer, daytime temperatures in Balad go above 120 degrees Fahrenheit and the trauma hospital, composed of tents, is not air conditioned. A cooling system for the tents keeps them 20 to 30 degrees cooler than the outside air.
“I know that Emporians always step up to the plate when people are in need, so I offered to write this letter and send it to The Gazette in hopes of getting some donations,” Hertlein said in her initial e-mail.
Hertlein was right. Emporians and friends in neighboring communities not only stepped up to the plate, they hit a home run.
“It was an amazing success!” Hertlein wrote in an e-mail on Thursday. “We are stocked to the gills with supplies, so for right now we need to slow down.”
In the meantime, Hertlein is writing thank-you notes to everyone who mailed boxes packed with freezer pops, flip-flops and other items that had been requested.
“I have been trying to send thank-you notes to everyone who has sent packages, but lately I have been getting behind,” she said, “and I have almost 100 thank-you notes to write still.”
She said that a number of people at the hospital have commented that she must know everyone in Emporia.
“I tell them ‘No, there is just a lot of great people in our community that want to help,’” she said. “They are amazed that so many people would send things to people they have never met.
“I tell them that’s the advantage of living in a small town.”
One donor included a brochure about Emporia in a package. Hertlein showed the brochure around the base.
“They thought it looked inviting,” she said.
Hertlein hopes to be return to Emporia in mid-August to rejoin her husband, Tim, and their two sons, Tyler, 9, and Eric, 7.