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USO Targets Military Women With Care Packages
(November 26, 2009) | 
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| WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2009 – The USO has changed a lot in 68 years and today
marked another milestone in the group's history of supporting the military
when it sponsored a care package service specifically for female
servicemembers.
While previous
USO
care packages were unisex, containing little sundries from home –
snacks, magazines, toiletry items – the new line of female-specific packages
contain items specifically requested by servicewomen such as cosmetics,
moisturizers and special soaps.
In a ceremony at the Rayburn House Office Building here, Congress members
joined servicemembers and volunteers, including Dr. Jill Biden and Speaker
of the House Nancy Pelosi, in stuffing the “for women only” packages. |
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| Jill Biden, wife of Vice
President Joe Biden, and Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi, participated Nov. 18 in a
USO-sponsored event on Capitol Hill to build
some 2,000 care packages that contain items
specifically for female servicemembers. This is
the first time the USO has targeted care
packages specifically to servicewomen. |
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“I've seen firsthand how acts of kindness and service can improve the life
of a servicemember,” Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, said. The
Bidens' son, Beau, a captain in the Delaware Army National Guard recently
returned from service in Iraq.
“Thank you to the USO for giving Americans a concrete way to give back to
our men and women in uniform,” she added.
USO President Sloan Gibson said he planned to have 2,000 packages prepared
at the ceremony.
The USO of Metropolitan Washington began preparing care packages for
servicemembers in 2002, he said, and will soon send its 2 millionth package
abroad.
Pelosi applauded the many legislators and staffers who came to celebrate and
contribute to the USO effort, noting that when it came to the well-being of
servicemembers, party lines disappeared.
“It's not about any one of us here,” Pelosi said. “It's about all of us, and
the work we can do to support our troops.”
Congressman Silvestre Reyes, a Vietnam veteran, said the USO was the only
link to home that he and his fellow soldiers had when they were in the war
zone.
“It's a connection the troops can have to home when they are, as you can
imagine, under some of the harshest conditions in the world,” he said.
He added that if there was any doubt about women's roles in the military,
they've been answered. Women in the services make us proud, and like any
other servicemember before or after them, “they make it possible for us to
be here today,” he said.
Donna Lagani, publisher of Cosmopolitan magazine, said her company was
“thrilled” to contribute to the USO's new effort. Cosmopolitan donated
thousands of magazines to be included in the care packages.
“Our slogan at Cosmo is ‘Fun, Fearless, Female,' and I can't think of any
more fearless females than the ones in the military serving on the front
lines,” she said.
The care packages contained many items typical in care packages for
servicemembers: hand wipes, sanitizer and food products, but also contained
two cosmetic products courtesy of Maybelline.
Deborah Marquardt, vice president of marketing communications for Maybelline
New York & Garnier, said even in a war zone, women like to be themselves.
"We want to support the brave women in uniform and we know how important the
little things in life are -- beauty," she said. "Women intrinsically
understand beauty and it can change their whole outlook to get a new
lipstick or a mascara. Women like to feel like women no matter where they
are and what context. I think anything that helps you feel like yourself and
reminds you of back home and gives you confidence ... is important, no
matter what the context."
Women make but about 15 percent of the active duty military, and about 18
percent of the National Guard and Reserve. | |
Article by Ian Graham,
Emerging Media, Defense Media Activity
Photo by C. Todd Lopez, Army News Service
Special to American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2009
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