Local American Legion to help military families

Jenny Tracy said she understands the pressures of living in a military family.
Tracy works for Bloomington’s American Legion Auxiliary as a chaplain and the children and youth committee chair.

The American Legion Auxilary, a women’s patriotic service organization, is a program of the American Legion.

This Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Tracy’s dream to help comfort children of military officers will materialize with a new volunteer initiative organized by the American Legion Auxiliary unit 18 called Comfy Cozy Packages.

“One of the things I noticed is that the family doesn’t always get the attention that the nation’s heroes are getting,” Tracy said. “It felt like an ideal way to provide them with love and care.”

Members from the American Legion Auxiliary, an organization for women related to military soldiers and veterans, will meet Jan. 21 from 2 to 6 p.m. and assemble care packages for children of local National Guard soldiers. The south central Indiana and Bloomington Kiwanis clubs, a local Girl Scout troop and volunteer residents will be putting together 60 care packages. The event is open to the public.

The packages will be distributed to Bloomington’s two National Guard units, the 2nd Battalion 150th Field Artillery and the 384th Military Police this March, allowing soldiers to personally give the packages to their children.

“A lot of pressure is on a military child,” Tracy said. “Their parent does a duty that could have the ultimate sacrifice, and the nation depends on them for many things.”
Tracy said she has lived with this pressure most of her life. Her father was a general in the Air Force, and her husband, Matt Tracy, is a master sergeant for the 2nd Battalion 150th Field Artillery unit and a 21-year veteran of the National Guard.

“Our unit could be deployed here in Bloomington,” Tracy said. “We’re mission-ready. The idea is to let the community be ready, too. When they do deploy, our community is ready to help.”

The packages, which include decorated coffee mugs filled with hot chocolate packages, stuffed animals and assorted books for toddlers to teens, all wrapped in a fleece blanket, will be tied together with a yellow ribbon representing military support.

Families will be encouraged to tie the ribbon around a nearby tree to represent their soldier.

“This is about their service and how their child handles it,” Tracy said. “They might not understand the Auxiliary’s involvement, but what they will understand is that daddy brought a package home with a blanket and a teddy bear.”

Vanessa McClary, board member for the Kiwanis clubs and an Air Force veteran, helped both clubs along with the Bloomington Key Club — a Kiwanis club for local high school students — to purchase and decorate coffee mugs for the packages.

She said she feels the key to the event’s success is the involvement of multiple community members and organizations.

“I think it’s wonderful we’re getting together on Martin Luther King Day, and I look forward to doing this in the future with all the groups involved,” McClary said.

Tracy said she hopes the Comfy Cozy Packages project will help create a greater support by the Bloomington community for local military troupes and their families, but understands firsthand that the worry she and her 8-year-old son Bolton have for her husband will be constant in their daily lives.

“I always say to my son, ‘you serve too,’” Tracy said. “You may not carry a gun, but you still serve. You hold the flag a little differently than many children.”

- Joe Weber