Hawai'i answers soldiers' calls for rice

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

Samantha Ligsay, readiness assistant at the Hawai'i National Guard Family Program Offices, got swamped yesterday by a deluge of calls from people wanting to send rice to Hawai'i's Guard troops in Baghdad.

Island residents who want to send rice to Hawai'i troops in the Middle East and elsewhere can use the U.S. Postal Service's flat rate Priority Mail boxes. Customers can put three 5-pound bags in the flat rate "shirt boxes" and pay only $7.70. United States Postal Service

The story included a Guard phone number residents could call to send rice to Baghdad.

"By the time I got to my office at 9 a.m., my boss is already fielding calls," Ligsay said. "He's like, 'You better read the paper — your husband's causing a ruckus over here!'

"And, sure enough. He's got to have his rice."

Ligsay's husband, Maj. Rudy Ligsay, happens to be the Koa battalion executive in Baghdad. He was quoted as saying rice directly affects morale of troops who are used to local-style meals, and said, "We're at the critical point where our rice could be depleted within a week to two weeks' time."

Meanwhile, at 2-299th Battalion headquarters in Hilo, state Family Assistance coordinator David Ferriera was handling his own avalanche of phone responses from people wanting to send rice.

According to Ferriera, the biggest cost involved with rice is shipping. Postage far exceeds the price of the product itself, he said. He and Ligsay were both recommending that people mail the rice themselves. Otherwise, they recommended sending money for postage.

"We wouldn't be able to afford to ship it," Ferriera said. "If they want, they can make a monetary donation to help purchase or help ship the rice."

Ferriera said that while he hadn't taken in any actual rice donations, he had received a nonstop stream of inquiries from people wanting to know how and where to send rice.

Ferriera also reminded callers that there was more than one unit with Hawai'i's Guard troops in the Middle East.

"We're glad so many people have responded," he said. "But our battalion is only one unit over there — 600 people in Baghdad. The rest of the brigade is over a thousand people."

Those troops are scattered across the Middle East — from Kuwait to Saudi Arabia. They all would welcome a gift box, he said.

"Whoever wants to donate food items — be it rice or whatever — they could send them directly. And not just to the 2-299th. We have other units there, and they would appreciate getting packages also."

A relatively inexpensive way to get rice to the troops is by taking advantage of the U.S. Postal Service's flat rate Priority Mail boxes.

Duke Gonzales, spokesman for the Postal Service in Hawai'i, said the volume of the boxes had not noticeably increased yesterday, but he expects a bump.

"Customers can utilize our special flat rate priority boxes to ... ship packages of rice to our homesick troops," Gonzales said. "They can easily fit three 5-pound bags of rice into one of the flat rate 'shirt boxes' and pay only $7.70."

Shipping the same items via regular Priority Mail and without the flat rate boxes would cost $27.80, he said.

Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com