Beanie Babies become diplomats working with American soldiers By Caterina Mellinger VALLEY TIMES 09/19/2008 BEANIE BABY MANIA – Greetings folks! I'm happy to report that the response has been tremendous for the collection of Beanie Babies for our troops to pass out to Iraqi children. To refresh your memory, this summer Alamo resident Debbie Sanford met members of the service sorority Delta Nu Psi outside of Longs Drugs in Alamo, where they were collecting the little stuffed creatures. Debbie set out on a mission to help the organization and asked friends, neighbors, and members of her Bunko group and book club if they would clean out their closets and donate the stuffed animals, which were popular in the 1990s. In an e-mail to me, Debbie explained how the community helped with the collection: "As I collected the 1,800-plus Beanies this last two weeks, I met so many interesting people who appreciated (having) a place for their Beanies to go. They were grateful to me. "I, in turn, felt as good about collecting them as they did donating them. All the Beanies were in pristine condition and we even got an Army Beanie and several USA Beanies," wrote Debbie. In addition to donations from Alamo residents, Debbie traveled to Livermore, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Dublin and Danville to collect them. Alicia Watson of Delta Nu Psi helped collect Beanie Babies with fellow sorority members. Together with Debbie, the organization has been able to help our troops reach out to the children. "The response your column generated has been overwhelming," Alicia told me. "We have collected over 3,500. That number, added to what we have received through our members' efforts will be 4,000 Beanies helping our troops with their humanitarian work in Iraq and Afghanistan," she said. She sent me a copy of a soldier's e-mail that prompted her group to collect the Beanies. The soldier had e-mailed Alicia after a humanitarian aid run in Iraq. "Recently we did an assistance program at a school. We passed out over 600 backpacks that had been filled in an assembly line operation with shoes, Beanie Babies, toys, health care needs, school supplies and food. "The project was fun and all the soldiers went back to base feeling as if they had done a good deed. Little did we know just how those donations impacted the children. "The next day a patrol was in the area. A boy wearing a backpack and a girl carrying a Beanie Baby and wearing her new sandals stopped the patrol. They had the patrol follow them behind some houses into empty farm land. The children pointed out a weapons cache of five rockets, two mortars, a 155 mm artillery round, wires and garage door openers. This combination was most likely going to be used to make an improvised explosion device (IED) ‹ one of our biggest threats and troop killers. "There is no doubt that the donated goods contributed to our force protection. It is our families and friends who help us win the hearts and minds of the children here," he wrote. Alicia told me that within a few hours of receiving that e-mail, the soldier wrote again. "Alicia, you are not going to believe this, but I assure you it is true. Remember in my e-mail I sent you this morning I talked about how we were going to another school to pass out goodies and some of your stuff was included in that? Well it proved to be invaluable again. "After only 15 minutes of passing out backpacks, Beanie Babies, shoes and candy, a little boy brought his dad to show us an area where there was freshly dug dirt. As we explored the dirt we determined that it was an IED placed there. This was behind the school and would have hurt or killed many children. "I just thought you would enjoy knowing that your Beanie Babies helped save more lives again today," wrote the soldier. Alicia told me the chief purpose is to send our troops, "love" in a box. "We send mainly gourmet junk food and a few items that are expensive to buy at the PX such as razors, toothbrushes and DVDs," she said. Visit the group's Web site at www.deltanupsi.org for more information on the organization and new dates and locations for donations. Debbie said Alicia's organization will accept more Beanie Babies. However, they are turning their attention to the upcoming holidays and will be requesting chocolates for the troops as well as other items. Have a great week! Reach Caterina Mellinger at aroundalamo@hotmail.com or by mail in c/o the Times, P.O. Box 607, Pleasanton, CA 94566.