By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Dec. 7, 2017) A Maryland Army National Guard truck pulled up to Anna Foultz’s home in Ocean Pines last Thursday to haul away dozens of bags of items donated for soldiers serving overseas.

Foultz and her late husband, Carl, started the “Holiday Gifts for Our Soldiers Overseas” drive two decades ago.

“Twenty years! Can you believe it?” Foultz said in her home on Thursday. “I think this is going to be my last year. It’s a lot of work. I keep saying that every year!”

Carl Foultz was a World War II veteran who served four years in the China-Burma-India Theater.

“He wanted to do something for the soldiers, so we got together and he started it. It started out small, from just our library, and now it’s pretty big. It covers most of the Eastern Shore,” Foultz said. “We have more today than we did last year. It’s getting bigger and bigger.”

She said donations came from throughout Worcester County and Sussex County, Delaware, and included collection boxes at county libraries. About eight volunteers for Foultz’s nonprofit Star Charities collects the items and stores them in her garage until they can be shipped.

Chewing gum, telephone calling cards, games, sunglasses and toiletries are popular donation items.

“You wouldn’t believe the amount of books we got this year,” Foultz said. “It just makes me feel so good to do this. It just lifts my spirits to do something good for our soldiers, because I support them 100 percent, whatever they do. If I can help in any way, that’s why I do it. And, it makes me feel like I’m close to my husband.”

Maj. Rob Willie led the collection team.

“We get to go around and pick up a lot of items like this during this time of year and it means a lot to us,” he said.

Star Charities will host a Beef and Beer benefit for wounded soldiers on Friday, Jan. 12 at the Ocean Pines Community Center on 235 Ocean Parkway.

The event will include music, comedy, a live auction and catered food.

To purchase tickets, $30, call Mary Evans at 410-596-5498, Barbara Peletier at 443-896-4914 or Foultz at 410-641-7667.