OPERATION BALL GOWN

• By GEORGE MORRIS
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Nov 16, 2009 - Page: 1D

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Mary Burnett started writing letters to soldiers during Operation Desert Storm. Then, she joined Soldiers’ Angels, which sends overseas military personnel letters, blankets, baked goods and more.

Now, she’s taking her morale-boosting efforts to previously unimagined levels — ball gowns.

(Not for the soldiers. For their wives or sweethearts. In case you were wondering.)

Burnett is helping a California woman organize a military ball. She has sent a dozen of her own party dresses and is asking others to do the same. Her niece, Meg Greene, is collecting dresses in Fairhope and Mobile, Ala.

“We just need dresses of all sizes,” Burnett said. “We’re not picky at all.”

That the Central resident would be heavily involved in an effort to treat a California National Guard unit shows how seriously Burnett takes such causes. But that’s nothing new.

Her brother served in Desert Storm in the early 1990s, so she not only corresponded with him but sent letters of encouragement addressed to “any soldier.” After the military began requiring letters be addressed to specific soldiers at the correct military address, Burnett thought she’d be unable to do this following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

But, about five years ago, she heard about Soldiers’ Angels (http://soldiersangels.org/) on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show.

Soldiers’ Angels was started by Patti Patton-Bader, whose son had been deployed to Kuwait. When Patton-Bader learned that many of his comrades didn’t receive packages, she began rallying people to change that.

“When I started,” Burnett said, “you could write a soldier a letter or make a blanket or bake some cookies. I can’t sew. I couldn’t do that baking thing to anybody I know or love or respect, so I adopted soldiers.”

“Adopting” meant committing to writing letters and sending at least two packages a month to a soldier whose name and address was provided by Soldiers’ Angels. Burnett has adopted eight soldiers. Seven have returned safely from deployment, and her current soldier is nearing the end of her tour of duty.

Burnett also writes a letter each week to a different soldier, who has yet to be adopted. It’s one of the organization’s many outreach opportunities.

“If you want to adopt somebody’s pet while they’re deployed, they have a division for that,” Burnett said. “If you want to visit veterans’ nursing homes, they have a division for that. Any level of participation, and every time there seems to be a need, they develop another division. They’re very organized.”