Care packages as a calling: One mother's Memorial Day mission

Foundation after her son was killed. The charity helps keep soldiers serving in harm's way stocked with supplies and warm wishes from home.


By Gordon Lubold, Staff writer / May 29, 2010

Dorine Kenney was already sending care packages to her son’s buddies in Iraq after he told her some soldiers weren’t receiving anything at mail call. But when a roadside bomb killed Jacob months later in 2003, the tragedy took Ms. Kenney’s sense of duty to a new level.

‘It was my survival of my son’s death for me,’ says Dorine Kenney. ‘For a few years, all I could do is work and bump into walls. Then it became my life.’

The holistic minister and Long Island mom needed something to latch onto in the void left by the passing of her only child. She decided the one thing she could do was help make a difference for all the troops who weren’t fortunate enough to get care packages from home.

“It was my survival of my son’s death for me,â€