April was all about military aid in Nahant. For the first time ever, the town partnered with Operation Troop Support, a Danvers-based organization that has been supplying military forces with resources for more than 20 years.
The project was coordinated by Nahant American Legion Post 215 Auxiliary President Esther Johnson. Multiple institutions in town participated in the effort by collecting goods, including Town Hall, the Fire Department, Johnson Elementary School, the Public Library, and the Life Saving Station.
According to Johnson, approximately $2,000 worth of food items were collected.
“Somebody came up to me and said, ‘Why are you sending food?’” Johnson recalled. “These are things like snacks that they like, beef jerky, small cans of tuna and fruit… small packages of cookies, peanut-butter crackers, things that travel.”
Volunteers from Nahant traveled to Georgetown to help pack the items gathered in town.
Johnson School students were enlisted to donate new adult white socks, of which they gathered 140 pairs.
“The kids are very involved,” Johnson said.
Johnson gave credit to librarian Nori Morganstein for the library’s collection of paperback books and other items for entertainment.
“Mostly mystery and suspense novels is what they like,” Johnson said. “And we collected lots of new decks of cards, puzzle books, and other things for entertainment too.”
On April 20, Johnson and other participants took a trip to Georgetown to begin the packing process. She was impressed by the diverse group of 45 to 50 Nahant residents who gave more than two hours of their time that day to package the items.
“Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, American Legion members, individual organizations, individual people, veterans,” Johnson said. “I was impressed by the different types of people.”
Additional goods collected in the final 10 days of the month were brought to the operation’s headquarters in Danvers.
Johnson also raised $1,800 in monetary donations, which were used to fund the shipping.
Operation Troop Support was founded by Dick Moody, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel. Johnson is confident in the future of the operation in Nahant, and is working to see how soon it can make its return.
“It’s a lot of work,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if we would do it again this year, but we might… We will check back with them in the fall.”
