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Kind-hearted support oozes from every nook and cranny

Jan-28-2006 » Filed Under: Homefront

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By Michelle Cuthrell

Jim Kuhnert and his buddy smiled at me as they opened the gate to the pickup truck sitting outside my office Monday morning. Anticipating a few boxes, or maybe just a bag or two, I casually unlocked the side door to my tiny Corolla. I figured I could squeeze a couple items into my back seat with no problem. But as they pulled down the gate, I realized I had a lot more unlocking to do.

There, crammed into the bed of the truck, were thirteen bulky Priority Mail boxes stuffed with my favorite cuddly fleece knot-style blankets.

But these blankets weren't just any knot blankets. They were special yellow ribbon blankets handcrafted by Kuhnert's family members for families of deployed soldiers--blankets Mr. Kuhnert asked me to help distribute. All 13 of them.

As the duo helped me unload the blanket boxes into my tiny four-door--into the front seat, into the back seat, crammed in the trunk--I was overwhelmed by this generous gesture from people I didn't even know. Here was a complete stranger and his family, offering their time, their materials and their love in the form of beautiful fleece blankets that they wanted military families to hold close while their loved ones were away. I just didn't know what to say.

Especially not when Mr. Kuhnert closed my trunk and shook my hand to go on his way and thanked me for my help.

Until this year, I'd never experienced this sort of kindness from complete strangers. But since my husband deployed, I have been inundated by the thoughtful gestures and support of this community--something I've never experienced by an entire group of people at any other time in my life.

It seems everywhere I turn these days, I'm blessed by strangers and friends alike who ask the questions, "What can I do?" and, "How can I help?" [...]

Michelle Cuthrell is a local freelance writer. Her columns about life as a military spouse at Fort Wainwright will appear while her husband, a lieutenant with the 2-1 Infantry Battalion, is deployed with the 172nd Stryker Brigade.


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