'Lunch lady' a major letter-writer

Local campaigns for communication with Marines

In mid-October, Debbie Nickle received an e-mail that left her choked up.

The short and simple message read: "Thank you for the letter. I don't know who you are, but I really appreciate it. When you get off work and you have a letter waiting for you it makes your day feel a whole lot better than it was before."

The e-mail was from a U.S. Marine currently serving in Iraq, writing to thank Nickle for a piece of mail she sent him more than a month ago. The e-mail message was the first response she's received, having written hundreds of letters to members of his battalion since September.

And hundreds more letters, cards and care packages are on the way to the troops, if Nickle can help it.

"I lived in Europe for 10 years," she said. "I know what it's like to be really far from home. I looked forward to a piece of mail that I could open up, something from America."

A food service worker at Cartwright Elementary School in Silverado Ranch, Nickle came up with a plan to write to Marines after talking with her friend, Sharolyn Wright.

Wright was telling Nickle about a conversation she had with her son James Wright, a Marine and executive officer of a battalion in Iraq. Wright explained to his mother that many of his troops are young and single, ranging in age from 18 to 20, and rarely ever receive mail.

Sharolyn Wright asked Nickle if she would write a letter to a troop in her son's unit. Nickle, a single mother of two sons who works two jobs, took the request one step further.

James Wright sent his mother a list of about 260 members of his battalion who don't receive mail, and Nickle wrote to each one.

"She's a hero," Sharolyn Wright said.

While Nickle is currently making her way through the list again, she has also started recruiting the help of businesses and residents in Silverado Ranch and Henderson. Around the time she received her first thank-you e-mail, Nickle started an unofficial adoption program, assigning Marines to Girl Scouts, friends and co-workers.

Nickle keeps a list of the 260 Marines with her, highlighting names in green one by one as she finds people to adopt them. She came up with the idea to start the adoption program after a troop of Henderson Brownie Girl Scouts asked her for names of a dozen female Marines they could write to help earn their patriotism badges.

People who agree to write a Marine can request a male or female, and Nickle will provide them will a short letter including a name and mailing address. She also reminds them that mail can take as long as three weeks to arrive.

Besides the Girl Scouts, Nickle, who also works part-time at Hallmark at The District at Green Valley Ranch, convinced all her co-workers there to adopt a Marine. A handful of teachers also have gotten on board, and so far 70 of the 260 have been adopted.

In addition to the adoption program, classes at Cartwright and neighboring Silvestri Middle School also are writing letters as classroom projects. Children who eat lunch before school at Cartwright also have been coloring pictures for the troops.

"This is snowballing," Wright said of Nickle's efforts. "The Marines now know her as Deb the lunch lady."

It's Nickle's mission that all the Marines on her list are adopted before Christmas.

"It's not an easy time out there for these guys," Nickle said. "I can't get over there and fight. But I like to write, and I like to write letters."

Both Wright and Nickle also have put together a few care packages for the troops, but postage to Iraq can get expensive when you're paying out of your own pocket. But they still try to send what Wright calls "pieces of home," including hard candies, toiletries, phone cards and magazines.

The women have been friends for three years, but Wright had no idea how far Nickle would go for troops she's never met.

"She went way above and beyond what I ever thought of," Wright said. "I think she lies in bed at night and thinks about what she can do for those Marines. James is dying to get back home to meet her."


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