Good Samaritan: Jody Delgado supports military through personalized care packages

Julie Smith/News Tribune
Jody Delgado poses at the American Legion where she is a busy volunteer.
Julie Smith/News Tribune Jody Delgado poses at the American Legion where she is a busy volunteer.

Military personnel often feel forgotten - and that oftentimes brings tears to Jody Delgado's eyes - but she hopes her monthly care packages remind them someone is always thinking of them.

Delgado received the inaugural Helen L. Fisher and John G. Fisher Good Samaritan Award - also known as the Fisher Family Good Samaritan Award. Redemption Inside the Walls and News Tribune partnered this year to select five "good Samaritans" who have gone above and beyond to help the Mid-Missouri area.

For the last seven years, Delgado has sent hundreds of care packages to military personnel around the country and world.

"It makes me feel good, but it also makes me feel sad too that they have to be over there without families," Delgado said, fighting back tears. "I know there are a lot of soldiers who get nothing ever, and I just want them to know that they are well thought of and supported."

Each care package contains items that can survive long trips: letters from schools, individual condiment packages, wet wipes, beef jerky, playing cards, sunflower seeds, pillow cases, etc. During the holidays, Delgado will include Halloween and Valentine's Day candy and mini Christmas stockings.

The packages also contain letters from Delgado about Jefferson City and the American Legion Post 5.

Delgado will include anything that "makes it feel like home," she said.

"This is somebody's mom, dad, brother, sister, somebody's child, and I would hope that somebody would do that for mine," she said, adding many of her family members were or are in the military.

Delgado currently has three boxes she sends each month. At one point, she sent 11 monthly boxes.

She spends $300-600 a month to create and send care packages.

It helps when items are on sale and individuals or groups donate products and funds, she added.

Individuals who want to donate to the care packages can drop off items or funds at the American Legion Post 5, at 1423 Tanner Bridge Road.

While many of the care boxes go to military personnel from Missouri, Delgado said, she has some care package recipients from other states.

Delgado will never refuse to send a care package to someone who is deployed, she added.

Those who know military personnel who are deployed can leave their names and addresses at the local American Legion, and Delgado will add them to her list.

She has received letters from soldiers thanking her for the packages, and some have even made trips to Missouri to visit her.

Delgado encourages the care box recipients to write her letters stating when they plan to return home or if they are transferring. Sometimes care packages will be returned to Delgado because the recipients are no longer at the listed addresses.

"It's nice when I get them back because I know that they are home," she said.

The care packages are also a way to coax military personnel to join organizations that care for veterans once they return home, Delgado said.

Along with sending the care packages, Delgado and her husband, Raul, regularly visit the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital in Columbia to chat with veterans.

Receiving the good Samaritan award was both "touching and humbling," Delgado said. She added she couldn't have done it without her husband and everyone who has donated to her cause.

"It's like a puzzle; I started it and I may have done most of the pieces but I couldn't do it alone," she said, holding up a bag of fast food condiments that was donated. "Just knowing people care enough is a big deal."

The other four Fisher Family Good Samaritan Award recipients are Victor Bell, John Schulte, Kyle Kittrell and Hannah Frevert.

Also part of this series:

Unsung heroes honored, Michael W. Smith performs at Redemption Inside the Walls

Good Samaritan: Hannah Frevert leads through literacy, educational organizations

Good Samaritan: John Schulte impacts community through smoke detectors, natural disaster response

Good Samaritan: Kyle Kittrell builds new beginnings through Habitat for Humanity

Good Samaritan: Helias coach, teacher Victor Bell leads by example