How It All Turned Out

by Julie Coulter Bellon

Giving. Patriotic. Supportive. Amazing.

Those are the only words I can think of to describe the people who have supported and donated to my Skittles for Soldiers drive. The response was overwhelmingly positive and much, much more than I ever expected.

Here is what we started with: a decorated box. I personally took one of these to all twenty Seagull stores and explained what we were asking.





I signed books all week and met Seagull store managers and store employees and I saw how much time and effort they spent helping me get the word out about the drive. It was so fun meeting them all (I definitely want to do a blog on the funny and amazing people you meet during booksignings!). But one of the best things that happened was being able to talk with the Vietnam veterans, current military men, and families with loved ones currently serving over in Iraq who came to see me. I was lucky enough to be able to hear about their experiences and what something from home truly means to them. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same.

After the booksignings were over, here is a picture of my family room, as we were beginning to sort through the food and other items after we first picked it up.





As you can see, almost all of my family room is packed with food and hygiene items. We even had to make a little path to walk in the room!


It took a long time and a couple of late nights to sort through everything, but we finally managed to do it! (Thanks to my husband and daughter!)


Here is a nice picture of everything sorted. It truly touched and amazed me how much love and concern was displayed for our troops.





I will be shipping these items to Operation: Care and Comfort in California and they seem to be as excited as I am for our success. It definitely turned into something larger than I imagined, but I can’t tell you how much it’s meant to me.

Thank you to everyone who helped with Skittles for Soldiers. You made this go as smoothly as a packet of Smoothie Skittles. There was hardly anything sour about it, at least not as sour as Sour Skittles. And you all have become like my favorite pack of Skittles---Berry. Because I love you berry much. Or, you could just say that you are the original, because who can truly improve on the original Skittles? (Corny I know, but what can I say? *grin*)





P.S. Happy Pioneer Day! Perhaps I should have blogged about all my pioneer ancestors and how incredible pioneers were. And I could have included all the reasons why I would make a horrible pioneer. Oh well. Next year for sure.