GALLIPOLIS — The Gallia County Chapter of the American Red Cross has joined with the River Cities Military Family Support Community (RCMFSC) to reach out to local military personnel who have been deployed to overseas and domestic installations.

Red Cross volunteers recently collected a variety of items and supplies that RCMFSC will send to troops from Gallia, Mason and Meigs counties who will be away from home during the upcoming Christmas season.

“The River Cities Military Family Support Community sends packages at Christmas time and at Easter time to our local soldiers who are deployed and the Red Cross decided to help them with this project and help do the collecting,” said Ollie Paxton, Red Cross volunteer. “We stood out in front of Walmart and ended up with 33 tubs full of merchandise. We weren’t asking for money, but still received $880. (Local residents) gave from the bottoms of their hearts.”

Paxton said volunteers collected toiletries, non-perishable food and other items. She said the funds collected will be used to buy snacks to send to the troops on the RCMFSC mailing list.

Paxton said the partnership between the Red Cross and RCMFSC is a growing relationship.

“We’ve been involved with them for about a year,” she said. “We helped them with the packing last year. We helped with a basket bingo fundraiser that they had recently. We’ve been attending their meetings and just doing whatever we can to support them. And we just feel that our soldiers from Gallia, Meigs and Mason who are deployed or stateside need all the support they can get from the folks back home.”

RCMFSC member Chris Williams said the Red Cross partnership and other support from local residents and groups is vital to what the group is trying to accomplish for the troops.

“They have given a real boost to our efforts,” she said. “We’re hoping to get 50 deployed addresses. We have about 30 so far. All these packages are going to go overseas.”

Williams said about 10 families are active members of the support community. She said RCMFSC is open to anyone who wants to support military personnel, not just those with family members in the military.

Williams troop addresses may be e-mailed to RCMFSC at mcw2947@yahoo.com or kskidmore57@aol.com. They may also be sent through regular mail to RCMFSC, P.O. Box 1131, Gallipolis, OH 45631.

Families may also contact the following group members to pass along troop addresses: Peg, 446-7194; Ronna, 446-2959; Chris, 245-5589; and Chris, 441-7454. Addresses may also be given to the Red Cross by calling 446-8555.

The individual’s name, birthdate and deployed address should be included. Williams said RCMFSC sends out birthday cards to all military personnel on its list.

The deadline for submitting troop addresses is Nov. 10.