MERIDIAN, Idaho — Brian and Lisa Losness's son Trevor is a medic in the Idaho National Guard. Currently, Trevor and around a thousand soldiers are currently deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Spartan Shield.
"We’ve been able to text him a few times and FaceTime a couple times," said Lisa. "The internet is a little iffy at times so you have to learn to talk with about a two second lag time."
The men and women of the Idaho National Guard, deployed in August, will not get to spend time with their families during the holiday season as their deployment is expected to last a year.
The Losness family wanted to send a care package to their son, but they decided to try and send one to every solder in the guard, they call it Operation Fill the Box.
"We need everybody’s help whether it is to fill a complete box by yourself or to donate items that can go into a box," said Lisa. "If you want to sponsor a box it is about 40 dollars a box."
Daryn Colledge is a former Boise State lineman, who went on to win a Super Bowl ring playing with the Green Bay Packers. In 2016 he joined the Idaho National Guard so he knows what it means to be on the receiving end of getting a care package.
"It’s a reminder of what’s back here and what is important," said Colledge. "I think that is super important not only for them, but for us, it’s a thank you from us, Idaho is Idaho for a reason and we support our troops for a reason so for me to use whatever B-level celebrity I’ve got to get behind this project is an easy choice."
Shipping is the biggest cost so Operation Fill the Box is taking monetary donations up until Veterans Day so they can get these packages over to the men and women of the Idaho National Guard.
They are also accepting donations to fill the box, items like books, puzzles, snacks, personal hygiene items and things to remind them of home can be dropped off at the Capitol on Saturday during the Veterans Parade.
Operation Fill the Box also has two events at the old Snake River Yamaha Dealership at 2957 E Fairview Avenue in Meridian, those will take place on Sunday and they will have one more event on Saturday, November 6. Both of those events happen between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
"If you don’t have anything that you have to give, you don’t have any swag like water bottles or shirts or anything you want to send over there you can volunteer to help fill the boxes, that’s great too," said Colledge.
It's a way to say thank you for the men and women of the the Idaho National Guard, like Trevor Losness, who works as a combat medic after joining to get money for college.
"We are very proud of him, his dad is a vet himself we have some military in the family and so it has been a neat experience to support him through this process," said Lisa.
