Local business sends care packages to soldiers
Rick Vollweiller wanted to do something good for a group of people this Christmas.
“I needed a feel-good project,” he said. “What could we do to help some people feel good?”
This year his mind and heart settled on our nation’s soldiers.
“They’re over there, they’re doing the sacrifice, we’re not,” Vollweiller said. “They’re keeping us safe so that we can go ahead and celebrate our Christmases here and feel the freedom that we have in this country.”
In years past, Vollweiller has raised funds for kids with cancer. This year he decided to switch it up, and send care packages to soldiers overseas. But he said it’s not going to stop this year.
“We’re a small business in American Falls,” Vollweiller said, “and I think it’d be neat if maybe some other businesses next year would maybe follow suit.”
Vollweiler is the CEO of AMS Inc. AMS supplies environmental and geotechnical sampling and monitoring equipment, but he said he likes to think of AMS as more than a company.
“Here at AMS we’re just a great big happy family, and that’s the way I like to have things around here,” he said. “So I wanted to make sure they were all involved.”
So he and his staff worked for a long time, buying water flavoring, beef jerky, granola bars and much more to place inside the care packages. AMS also included a card that said the following:
Dear Hero,
What we manufacture as a company is not nearly as important as the freedom and safety you provide us to manufacture it. Because of the sacrifice you make to be away from your family and friends, we can embrace ours.
It’s easy sometimes to thing that what you do goes unnoticed or unappreciated. Our gift, we hope, will serve as a reminder that we do care, that we pray for your safe return and that we will hold deeply in our hearts the great gift you continue to give the people of America.
Because of men and women like you, who put their needs second to those they protect and serve, America is the safest nation in the world. Please accept this small token of our gratitude. We cannot express in words how much we appreciate what you do.
The employees and their families of AMS Inc.
Soldiers have already sent replies and thanks to AMS, and Vollweiller says those thanks make it all worth it.
“It’s just very heartfelt from them,” he said. “Let’s make sure to keep all of our soldiers in our prayers and in our thoughts this holiday season.”
To find out how you can send packages to soldiers overseas, and what’s needed in those packages, you can go to anysoldier.com.
