On the sixth anniversary of September 11, the nation will focus on, in addition to the events of that day, the United States military. For members of a local group-Blue Star Mothers of America-the troops are never far from their minds.
For Sarah Pace, president of the Oxford chapter of Blue Star Mothers, thoughts of her son Zack Pace, a 2002 Miami University graduate serving in the army, are currently piled up in her living room.
"I have 28 pounds of coffee sitting in my living room right now," Pace said.
Blue Star Mothers, in addition to serving as a support service, creates packages to send to troops oversees. One favorite item: coffee.
To aid in donations, the Starbucks in uptown Oxford has a box where customers can purchase a pound of coffee and donate it directly to the troops.
"Starbucks has been terrific," Pace said.
The history of Blue Star Mothers, the donations of coffee and other items and the group's main purpose all originated much earlier than the current military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As a non-partisan national organization of mothers with children in the military, Blue Star Mothers began during World War II in Flint, Mich.
"So many people were deployed in World War II that basically it was the family members left at home," Pace said, wearing her Blue Star Mothers lapel pin on her McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital ID badge.
Marilyn Ballmann, a mother whose son was serving in the military, formed Oxford's chapter of Blue Star Mothers in fall 2006.
"She was supporting her son," Pace said. "It's what she felt she needed to do."
According to Pace, the organization originally provided mothers of military personnel with a way to stay involved with their family members who were overseas. A large aspect of the Blue Star Mothers is helping support troops through care packages and organizing scholarships for children of fallen soldiers.
Blue Star Mothers are best known for distributing their blue star banner. When a soldier is deployed, the family receives a banner with a blue star to hang in their window and it is removed when the soldier returns home safely. The families of fallen soldiers receive a gold star banner to commemorate their children.
According to Pace, compared to the scope of the whole organization, the Oxford chapter is very small, consisting of 15 members.
"This is a university community," Pace said. "It's not a military community."
The small size of the Oxford chapter allows the members to have a unique relationship, Pace explained.
"It's a support group-sort of," Pace said, "It's a place where you can go where there's a common bond."
This commonality does not extend to political beliefs about the war or the leadership behind it, said Janet Cox, treasurer of the Blue Star Mothers and assistant provost for personnel and director of academic personnel services at Miami. Many of the women are members only in support their children, not the war in which they are engaged.
"(The troops) are just doing what they are asked to do for the United States," Cox said. "Whether you agree with it or not."
The importance of the group is twofold, according to Cox.
"Our outward mission is to do what we can to support the troops," Cox said. "Just to let them know that people care about them and are thinking about them, beyond their family and friends."
The second layer of importance, according to Cox, is the support among the women that the Blue Star Mothers provides.
"That connection with each other is just as important," Cox said. "They've also taught me a lot."
The Oxford chapter works to increase the spirit of their children overseas by sending care packages. Most of the care packages contain gifts for an entire company. According to Cox, golf clubs and balls were recently sent for all to use.
Pace said when soldiers of the 82nd Airborne at Solarno, Afghanistan were asked what they wanted most of all for the base, their answer was to play golf. The Blue Star Mothers took on the challenge of finding local businesses to contribute monetarily or with golf equipment. Once acquired, all materials were sent from the Blue Star Mothers to the unit. With these donations, the troops at Solarno were able to create their own driving range.
According to Pace, many of the gifts are fun, unique items to provide a distraction to the everyday affairs of duty.
"The last box I sent my kid, I sent three packs of water balloons," Pace said. "They're just grown-up boys. They like that stuff."
Blue Star Mothers also send special individualized care packages to soldiers.
"If there is somebody in need of a morale booster, they will tell us and we will send something to that person," Pace said.
According to Pace, the chapter is not doing anything special for September 11 because it does not directly involve the troops.
"September 11 was a civilian incident," Pace said.
However, the chapter is planning on sending the next round of care packages overseas in the near future. A packing party, in which the Blue Star Mothers will get together and pack care packages to be sent to soldiers overseas, will take place Sept. 20 at McCullough Hyde Hospital, Pace said.
According to Cox, the most important message about Blue Star Mothers is to get the word out that this organization exists.
"There are a number of mothers and fathers who have children in the military who are not part of our organization," Cox said. "It would be wonderful for us to even know who they are in the Oxford community, so that if we can ever do something for them, they know who to call."
Additional reporting by Michael Pickering.
