In about three weeks, one group of Marines deployed in Afghanistan will be getting a taste of home, thanks to the efforts of a local 17-year-old.
Chelsea Schachle said when her cousin, 23-year-old Lance Cpl. Zane Prater, of Clifton, Tenn., was deployed to Afghanistan in January, she knew she wanted to do something for him while he is overseas. That’s when she began planning “Race for Freedom,” a 5k walk/run and care package event that will benefit her cousin’s unit, the 3rd Battalion 6th Marines, and the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization that raises awareness for the needs of service members.
“I heard the need for the baby wipes and for all the different stuff and I felt like I couldn’t do enough on my own,” Ms. Schachle said, adding that several family members and volunteers helped with the project. “I wanted to have the need recognized by people around the country and around Chattanooga … our troops should never be forgotten.”
The event Saturday at the Riverpark raised nearly $700, she said. Between 30 and 40 people participated in the run and assembled about 16 care packages filled with snacks and hygiene products that will be mailed to the troops this week, Ms. Schachle said.
McKee Foods donated about 500 servings of Little Debbie products, and participants brought baby wipes, other snacks and products such as deodorant for the packages, she said.
“Right now in Afghanistan, they don’t really have much to wash off with at all,” Ms. Schachle said. “They take showers maybe once a month, … and we wanted them to have enough baby wipes to be able to wash off a couple of times.”
Lance Cpl. Prater’s mother, Christina Hammond, 44, of Clifton, Tenn., made the drive to Chattanooga to come help with the project that will be helping out what she now considers her extended family.
“When your child joins the service it’s like all of his buddies become your extended sons,” she said. “This just means that they’re going to have something that they wouldn’t ordinarily have … that will just kind of brighten their day, because they’re in a tough situation.”