Navy Mom Helps Ship Holiday Cheer To Sailors All Around The Globe

BOTHELL —

It began as an ambitious dream from a Navy Mom, gather the best things from home and ship them to hundreds of sailors serving overseas. On Saturday a community rallied for her cause to make the holidays bright for sailors thousands of miles from home.

There was no time for chit chat in one Bothell home on Saturday volunteers had some serious packing to do. They were grabbing a few snacks and stuffing them in a box to make sure Navy sailors serving overseas felt appreciated.

This is the second year Navy mom Mary Jo Bader has gathered goodies for sailors around the globe.

“That's wonderful you can never have too many letters and cards. So, beef jerky, trail mix, cookies, we have home-made cookies this year which is awesome,” said Bader.

This year’s goal, get enough stuff for 230 boxes and the community came through.

“We just thank so much to Q13 for that, they've been wonderful in helping us get the word out.”

But, the boxes aren’t done until Mary Jo drops in a few words of praise.

“Enjoy this small gift as our way of saying thank you and merry Christmas,” said Bader.

Now, that they’re done they’re ready to be shipped to sailors all over the world.

Volunteer Liz Cummings says the care packages mean a lot to the sailors.

“You know just how thankful they are that they get something for Christmas it's a big deal to them stuff that we would take for granted,” said Cummings.

Mary Jo is grateful to everyone who helped in bringing a little bit of holiday joy to the men and women who protect our country.

“You know I'm amazed at the response we had this year,” said Bader.

Mary Jo says as this project continues to grow she expects to pack and ship even more boxes next year, which means the volunteers will have to find a bigger place to do their work.