More than 40 members of Westerville's VFW Post 7883, American Legion Post 171, the American Legion Auxiliary and volunteers gathered the day after Veterans Day last week to pack more than 100 care packages to send to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for the holidays.

The two veterans' groups and the auxiliary began the program four or five years ago, when the VFW found a source for donations for the boxes and asked the auxiliary for help.

The auxiliary has long sent care packages to troops as part of its Troop Fan Mail program, under which people write supportive letters to members of the military serving abroad.

"We would get replies back," said Kim Mann, auxiliary president. "When we get a reply, we'd send them a care package."

Last year, Westerville's American Legion Auxiliary sent 4,500 pieces of fan mail and 65 care packages.

"We were third in the nation," Mann said. "We were going for first."

Donations for this year's holiday care packages, which included toys and books to be distributed by the troops to children, as well as snacks, socks, lip balm, pens, paper and envelopes, came from Genoa Middle School.

The school donated 75 boxes full of items that volunteers were able to turn into more than 100 care packages.

While the three groups do a large-scale mailing of care packages for the holidays, Alan Briggs, commander of VFW Post 7883, said members of all three groups send care packages both as a group and as individuals throughout the year.

"This is once a year on this scale," Briggs said. "A lot of families do that, too."

Briggs said the veterans and their families especially understand how important the care packages are to troops serving in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

"From my own experience, there's nothing like getting a box," Briggs said. "A lot of these things we send out, there's just no way for them to get, unless their families send it."

Mann said while the holiday care packages mean a lot to the troops, they also have a great impact on the volunteers who put them together.

Last week, those who gathered ranged from WWII veterans down to the Genoa Middle School students and children who had participated in the Buckeye Boys and Girls State program through the auxiliary.

"It is so cool to see the younger kids come in here to help," Briggs said. "I really like seeing the younger generation get involved. That just thrills me."

Once the boxes are packed, volunteers still have work to do, filling out customs forms for the boxes and getting them out through the post office, as well as donating items that were too large to send to other groups who can use them, Briggs said.

Despite the work, Briggs said it's been rewarding to see the holiday care package program grow since the first year, when the three groups sent out between 40 and 45 boxes.

"Each year, it's progressively grown," she said.

jnesbitt@thisweeknews.com