Originally published on 2004-11-03 in the Local & State category.


Being angel for soldiers is its own reward

By Rodger Mullen

Staff writer

Being an angel is a full-time job.

Viktoria Carter knows this. She?s been bringing a little hope and happiness to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan for over a year now, and she?s learned that there?s always more to do.

?My phone rings 24/7,?? Carter said, ?and my computer stays on all the time.??

Carter, who lives in Fayetteville, is director of public relations and donations for Soldiers? Angels.

The nonprofit organization began as a Web site founded by Patti Patton-Bader, the mother of Brandon Varn, a soldier stationed in Iraq.

According to the Soldiers? Angels? Web site, Varn wrote his mother in the summer of 2003 complaining that some soldiers never received letters or supplies from home. Patton-Bader contacted a few friends asking for help keeping soldiers? spirits up through contact with their countrymen.

As the U.S. military?s role in the Middle East grew, so did Soldiers? Angels? work on the home front.

Within months, thousands of people had visited the Web site and were helping the soldiers with words of encouragement or needed supplies. The group was incorporated as a nonprofit foundation in February.


An expanding mission
Over the months, the group?s mission grew to include helping to reunite wounded soldiers with their families and providing support to those families.
Some Soldiers? Angels volunteers sew blankets for wounded soldiers. Others sew scarves to protect soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan against the harsh desert elements, or they knit baby blankets and bonnets for soldiers? newborns.

The group sends backpacks filled with items such as boxer shorts, T-shirts, calling cards and personal hygiene items to hospitalized soldiers.

The calling cards are especially popular, Carter said.

?A big thing is communication, letting the family know what?s going on,?? Carter said. ?They can call their next of kin to tell them they?re OK.??


Carter has always been sensitive to the needs of the military. Her husband is in the Army, she said, and her father is a Vietnam veteran.

Carter said her father?s unpleasant experience returning home from Vietnam convinced her that soldiers need to be supported, no matter how popular or unpopular the war.

When the war in Iraq began, Carter?s children told her they wanted to help the soldiers in some way.

?My kids were like, ?Mom, let?s adopt a soldier,??? Carter said. She said the family did something similar during the first Gulf war in the early 1990s.


Carter said she searched and found the Soldiers? Angels Web site.
Carter started by ?adopting?? a soldier, and gradually got more involved. When I spoke to her by phone this week, she was coordinating a family?s visit to their badly wounded son at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Carter said Soldiers? Angels has grown phenomenally since she joined, but there is always a need for more volunteers and donations. People who want to help can e-mail Carter at viktoriacartersa@aol.com, call her at 424-8187 or visit the national Web site at www.soldiersangels.com.

Even a little bit of help is appreciated. Carter said the time and effort is well worth it.

?Everybody says, ?What do you want out of this???? she said. ?I say, ?As long as they come home happy and healthy, that?s all I need.???