Stryker Brigade News

With about two weeks left, organizers have tripled the number of sponsors from last year, he said. They already have raised $25,000, surpassing the $15,000 raised last year.

The money goes to organizations that directly aid local military families. They also hope to see 2,000 participants in the 2.2-mile march, up from 500 last year.

Organizers provided a truckload of food and a $5,000 check to the Army Community Service food locker at Fort Lewis, manager Donna Arias said.

"We appreciate this so much," she said. "It helped so many families."

The locker provides food baskets to soldiers, their family members and some retirees. The food locker can provide between six and 15 food baskets a day, depending on demand.

She said she expects demand to rise with the arrival of about 3,900 soldiers with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Polk, La., starting next year.

Many soldiers will spend a lot of money securing housing outside the Army post for themselves and their families and will need temporary help with groceries, she said.

Organizers also donated to groups such as the Washington National Guard Family Program, Saint Martin's College Military Dependent Scholarship and the memorial fund for a Fort Lewis Stryker brigade.

During the event, organizers will read the names of soldiers and airmen from Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The event will fall on the third anniversary of the attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., which led to military action in Afghanistan in October 2001.

Oczkewicz said the timing is purely coincidental because organizers want to have the event after school starts, when more families are in the area, but before the rainy season. The march won't note the attacks directly, he said, but will include local police officers and firefighters whose profession played a heroic role in rescue efforts immediately following the attacks.

Fort Lewis will provide more of its equipment, including five Stryker vehicles, as part of a static display at the march staging area at the Wal-Mart in Lacey. Organizers couldn't secure as much equipment last year because of legal concerns over restrictions on the use of government-owned property for fund- raising purposes.