Operation Christmas Eagle

By SEAN BARRON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
CORTLAND -- While Jeff Chaney fights the war on terrorism at sea, his daughter and a group of high school students are showing their appreciation at home.
"I wrote an e-mail to friends and it spread. I got a huge response from friends, and it got all over," said Katy Chaney, referring to Operation Christmas Eagle, a gift-raising drive she and her grandmother started for her dad and others on the USS Curtis Wilbur, a Navy missile destroyer.
Katy, 14, and several other Lakeview High School students were busy recently packing more than 100 boxes of magazines, toiletries, food and mail to be sent to the crew members, as well as those on the USS Kitty Hawk, an aircraft carrier. Students also left various supportive messages for the sailors on a yellow ribbon they plan to send.
Jeff Chaney, a Navy lieutenant commander, and about 300 other USS Curtis Wilbur sailors are stationed in the Arabian Sea. The Lakeview freshman said her dad was called to active duty about two weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Katy said she wants to target the sailors who have little or no correspondence from family members. She added that she realizes students and others have to be careful about what they include in the boxes they intend to send.
"We want to let [the sailors] know they're not forgotten," she said.
Inspections: Because of heightened security after the Sept. 11 attacks, each box had to be inspected before it could be sent, explained Katy's grandmother, Sally Mazer. Each box and letter had to be addressed to a specific sailor, Mazer said.
"We have to send boxes via priority mail," Mazer said, adding she couldn't send them through any of the local Air Force bases because of security and legal concerns.
Several World War II veterans and local Boy Scout members also took part in the project, Mazer said.
Linda Rice said 79 of her 11th-grade English students chose socks, T-shirts, flags and other patriotic items among the 30 to 40 gifts they could include in their boxes. Rice said her students selected a sailor from a list of names Mazer provided, adding that each student worked independently on the project.
Rice also said her students have benefited from reaching out to the 18- to 21-year-old sailors, many of whom are single and will be away from their families for the holidays.
"Operation Christmas Eagle has had a positive effect on the students and caused them to step away from themselves. They're looking to what others need," Rice said.
Interact: Also participating were members of Interact, a community service group geared toward high school students. John Wright, an eighth-grade science teacher and Interact's adviser, said he sent fliers asking all 35 members to contribute. Everyone agreed, he said.
Wright said he and his pupils felt helpless watching the Sept. 11 events unfold and saw Operation Christmas Eagle as a way to give something back.
"It's made everyone's awareness so much better," he said. "Today's teen-agers know there's a price for freedom."
The group also raised more than $1,000 in donations for Red Cross relief efforts, Wright added.
Excel workers: Operation Christmas Eagle's reach spread beyond Lakeview's walls. Among the items in the school's cafeteria was an 18-inch by 14-inch patriotic card signed by about 100 Alcoa Excel Extrusions employees.
"Once we heard about it, our committee had an emergency meeting. We had a very warm response to our fliers and everyone responded," said Nicolle Spina, a human resources assistant.
Spina added Alcoa workers contributed "books to backscratchers to toiletries to cans of Pringles."
Katy recalled being in her history class when the first World Trade Center tower was hit. After watching a plane crash into the second tower, Katy said she knew it was no coincidence.
She said tragedy "hit me very hard," she said. "I left class the next day and it was a horrible week. I still have visions of an airplane hitting my dad's ship and my room."