USS Boxer Sailors Received Hand-Sewn Stockings, Gifts

On Christmas morning, the 1,200 sailors on board the San Diego-based USS Boxer were greeted with stockings, hand-sewn by USS Boxer family members and stuffed with gifts donated by Ewing Irrigation, Golf & Industrial.

In October, the USS Boxer family support group purchased materials and began the process of creating the stockings. In less than two months, the support group completed the massive order of stockings, but there was just one problem—there were no gifts to stuff inside.
 
Understanding just how hard the holidays can be for sailors to be separated from their families, Brian Pollard, Ewing’s Regional Operations Manager for San Diego County, appealed to Ewing’s Phoenix-based Home Office for assistance in filling the empty stockings. His spouse, Lieutenant Junior Grade Megan Pollard, is deployed this holiday season.

“It is still business as usual on board the ship during the holidays,” Pollard said. “Megan will work her watch shift and continue on with her other duties. The sailors will have a special holiday dinner, but the reality is that their experience won’t be the same as being with their families. These stockings and gifts will let them know we are thinking about them, and that we care.”

Ewing Irrigation donated sailor favorites including DVDs, snacks, sweets, chapstick, and candy canes to fill the stockings, and USS Boxer family and friends gathered together to stuff and ship the stockings with high hopes that sailors like Megan Pollard will feel a touch of holiday spirit. 

“Missing holidays and family occasions are small sacrifices we all have to make,” said Megan in an e-mail interview.  “I act like it is just another day.  It doesn’t seem like it’s Christmas to me without my family, lunch at grandmother’s house, a real Christmas tree, and Christmas music. This is my Christmas.”

Additional donations, including a variety of board games from local companies, accompanied the newly-stuffed stockings to promote camaraderie and togetherness, and hand-written thank you notes from local elementary students added the perfect personal touch for the sailors.

Ewing Irrigation offers commercial and residential irrigation supplies, landscape and agronomic products, water management solutions, low-voltage lighting, erosion control, water features and industrial plastics to professionals serving the landscaping, turf, golf, and industrial industries. Ewing offers more than 166 convenient locations from coast to coast.