Stockings for Our Troops Grows Each Year

Rachel and Gene Mierke wanted to teach their kids an important lesson on Veterans Day.

The Tinley Park residents brought their son Madden and daughter Taelyn to the Oaks Fitness Center in Mokena on Monday for the annual Stockings for Our Troops event.

“We have a lot to be thankful for this year,” Rachel Mierke said. “And we wanted to show them that a good way to respond when you feel grateful is to give.”

The Mierkes were among hundreds of people who came to the fitness center’s field house Monday to decorate home-sewn stockings that will be filled with donated goods and sent to soldiers around the world.

Attendees also had the opportunity to write letters to soldiers, thanking them for their efforts personally and wishing them well.

Stockings for Our Troops has been a Veterans Day tradition in Mokena for the past six years, and more and more people get involved each year, according to Mokena Park District Superintendent of Recreation Mary Beth Windberg.

“They all deserve Christmas too,” Windberg said.

The district provides all of the stockings, stationary and crafts to decorate. Businesses in town donate stocking stuffers, including Berkot’s. Volunteers work all throughout the year to sew the stockings together just for the event, Windberg said.

This year, stockings were also collect for military animal handlers.

All of the stockings, letters and additional donations go to Operation Care Package in Joliet to then be sent to soldiers.

“We’re happy to do it,” Windberg said. “We’ll do it until we don’t need to anymore.”

To find out more about Stockings for Our Troops, contact the Mokena Park District at 708-479-1020.

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