Hortonville woman a "Santa" to troops

HORTONVILLE - Donna Nickel is like a real-life Santa Claus to men and women in the U.S. military.
She is the founder of The Troop Group, which ships care packages to troops overseas.

Thanks to her, hundreds of troops will receive something special for the holidays.  However, The Troop Group sends care packages year-round.

"For Christmas, the goal was 400 boxes between October 15 and the end of February," said Nickel.

Nickel started the mission on her own in 2005, as a way to cope with her son Joe's deployment to Iraq.  Since then, local auxiliary and church groups have joined in to help, forming The Troop Group.

"We're getting some piece of home to our guys over there," said Marcella Suprise, a volunteer.

The Troop Group sends care packages to as many as 6-thousand troops overseas each year.  Nickel finds the service members in a variety of ways.  She gets calls and emails from service members' loved ones about where they are stationed.  Nickel also checks credible websites that offer information on where troops are stationed, and how a package can be sent to them.

"Whatever you can think of you'd need in your everyday life, we try to make sure they have it," said Nickel.

The thousands of care packages that are sent each year are all assembled in Nickel's basement in Hortonville. Shelves line the walls, stocked with supplies -- everything from personal hygiene products, to snacks and books.  All of it is donated by local community groups, businesses and ordinary people, just wanting to help.  Click here for a list of items that can be donated.

"It all ends up in my living room until I can get the boxes down here," said Nickel.  "My living room is usually a mess, but it's a good mess because it's for the guys."

Nickel saves every "Thank You" letter or email that she receives from the troops she sends packages too.  She has two binders full of letters, many of them hand-written.

"We've gotten letters from guys who say, 'I wouldn't have gotten a box without you,' and some of them make me want to cry," said Nickel.

Nickel says the number-one way you can help The Troop Group is by donating money.  That helps cover shipping costs and to buy the supplies the troops are most in need of.  Click here for a direct link to The Troop Group website, which offers contact information.