There’s nothing like a package from home to brighten a sailor’s day.

Oak Harbor residents came through in a big way to fulfill a recent request from the Navy League for items to fill care packages being sent to deployed sailors from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

“It was fantastic. We can easily do 20 boxes,” said Beth Munns, a Navy League officer and Northwest Coastal Area President. “Fifteen is what was needed, so we’ll have five extra boxes the hospital can keep on hand.”

The donations, which were dropped off at the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce, were collected and taken to Alaska USA Mortgage in Oak Harbor last Friday, where Munns and fellow Navy League member Connie Leonhardi spent a few hours stuffing them full.

“This community is very, very giving,” said Munns. “If people know there is a true need, they’ll come through.”

“Support our troops, that’s what we do,” said Leonhardi.

The boxes were packed to the gills with goodies — there were snacks of all kinds, including a box that was filled entirely with homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Other items included lotions, soaps, laundry detergent, deodorant, baby wipes, puzzle books and even Beanie Babies.

The stuffed toys were a request from Chief Lukas Gardner, one of three NAS Whidbey sailors currently on the USS Cleveland. He said sailors give the toys to local children. Leonhardi figured they’d bring a smile to a sailor’s face, too, so she made sure her boxes were packed a particular way.

“I think the Beanie Babies should be on top, so when they open the package, they’ll see a smiling face,” she said. “It would bring a smile to my face.”

But there’s another reason both women were packing boxes last week.

“I appreciated so much how the community would come together to send us things when my husband was deployed during Desert Storm,” Munns said. “I know how much it meant to us. For me to do this was an easy fit.”

“I just think it serves a need for the men and women who are over there far from home,” agreed Leonhardi. “They might be feeling homesick or lonely, and this is kind of a gift from home. I’d like to get one of these, wouldn’t you?”

The Navy League doesn’t have a specific schedule for doing up care packages, they just do it when they get a call, according to Munns.

These boxes will be shipped to the USS Cleveland and various places in Afghanistan and Iraq.