Donations needed to ship supplies to local soldiers

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard (McMinnville, Ten

Warren County High School JROTC instructor Ernest Brewington, left, and retired Lt. Col. John Black display the items collected for soldiers headed to Iraq. Brewington said the program needs monetary help to ship the items. (Amy Satterwhite photo)

When Tom Pedigo heard about the need for funds to ship supplies to our troops in Iraq, he couldn’t resist helping.

Pedigo, a former local school superintendent who said he helped found the original ROTC program in the schools, said he went to his local civic club with a request to contribute to the JROTC program at Warren County High School.

Members of JROTC, along with students and staff at the school, have spent about a month gathering thousands of items for soldiers with the 278th Armored Calvary Regiment who are expected to be in Iraq this month. After the overwhelming response, they now need help paying for shipping costs.

Members of Morrison Ruritan responded to Pedigo’s request by giving $200 but asked him to make the rounds at other civic clubs in the community and ask them to either meet or surpass that amount.

“I think it would be a real good shot in the arm if we could get a little competition going to try to do what they did at Ruritan,” said Pedigo, admitting he also has a close tie to one of the unit’s soldiers, Michael Reep, who is his grandson.

“This is kind of close to me and I would just like to see something good come out of it,” he said, adding he first learned about the need for funds to cover shipping costs through the newspaper.

“That’s what stirred me up. I thought, ‘Let’s get together to help them send that stuff over there.'”

The JROTC program at Warren County High School can be reached at 668-5903.