Thursday, December 04, 2008
Gold Star Mother's Christmas Donations Stolen
A Southland woman whose son was killed in Afghanistan is feeling even more pain after thieves stole items she was collecting for wounded soldiers.
Linda Ferrara planned to send hundreds of socks, sweat shirts, pajama pants, hand-made blankets, letters and other goods to an Army hospital in Germany this week.
But, over the weekend, someone broke into her family's mobile home, which was parked outside their Bay Cities Italian Bakery on a dead-end street in Compton.
Ferrara went to the RV Sunday and found empty boxes scattered outside.
Inside, she discovered nearly all the collected items were missing and "thank you" letters to wounded soldiers were torn to shreds.
Ferrara, along with other West Point Parent Club members, had been collecting the items since her son, Army Capt. Matthew Ferrara, and five others were killed in an ambush on Nov. 10, 2007.
She estimates that at least $6,000 worth of clothes were taken along with the priceless patriotic fleece blankets she and other volunteers spent hours sewing.
Linda is an amazing lady. I wrote about her last Febrary shortly after her son Matthew was killed. This is what she had to say. I've never forgotten it:
Some people don't think that we have to fight just yet,
that we can wait and the crazies will go away
and not harm our little tribe.
They are already harming our little tribe.
All of humanity is our tribe.
- Linda Ferrara
It's hard to imagine such grace and generosity of spirit from a newly bereaved mother.
If you can spare a few dollars, please show her she wasn't wrong. I think she's given enough.
MaryAnn at SoldiersAngelsGermany has information on how you can help.
5 Comments:
By 
TigerHawk, at
Thu Dec 04, 09:51:00 PM:
And to think that it was Cindy Sheehan who got the publicity. That still enrages me.
By Cassandra, at
Thu Dec 04, 10:39:00 PM:
Cindy was useful because she's a victim. They'd never want to cover one of the many young widows who have taken a really lousy situation and turned it into something admirable and inspiring. And there are so many, like Emily Dieruf. But the media couldn't care less about someone like her, because instead of feeling sorry for herself or being bitter, she decided to help others.
What a concept.
By 
, at
Thu Dec 04, 11:51:00 PM:
..."thank you" letters to wounded soldiers were torn to shreds...
I have two close friends who worked with Linda on this project. While I am infuriated about the theft, I am almost more disheartened by the letter shredding, since those letters made it obvious that the trailer's contents were part of a shipment to our brave troops. What a bunch of trashy thugs to deny these young soldiers some warmth and comfort while they are protecting us all. Despicable.
I appreciate your including this report in your blog.
By Cassandra, at
Fri Dec 05, 07:12:00 AM:
I think that's what bothered me the most, too.
Theft, especially during the holiday season, I could understand. Not condone, of course, but I would have understood that it wasn't anything 'personal'. But destroying those letters seemed like such a malicious act.
The Christmas before last, I spent hours sorting through boxes of cards written by my daughter's elementary school children to the troops. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever been privileged to do - seeing what hundreds of kids from kindergarten up to 5th grade had to say to our soldiers and Marines was a real treat.
Some were funny, some were touching, and it was apparent that a few of the 5th graders had even put some real thought into what they were doing and how it would feel to be a soldier far from home at Christmas. To think of someone destroying letters like that just sickens me.
By , at
Fri Dec 05, 10:19:00 AM:
This strikes me as a very odd crime. Why would thieves take $6000 of socks jammies and sweat shirts? How much could one possibly make fencing that stuff? I would think it would take a truck to haul that much stuff away. Any why take the extra time to look for and tear up the letters? The silver lining is that much money and publicity will be generated from the burglary.
