OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) - — The Burlington Road Neighborhood Association will provide troops with a little more joy this holiday season.
"You just really don't know how much that's going to brighten somebody's day by taking a few minutes and thanking them for what they're doing," US Army Reserve's Scott Marasco said.
Scott Marasco is approaching 35 years of service.
Marasco tells 3 News Now he still remembers the day he received a Christmas card while deployed in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War.
"What was really neat about it, is you can see on the front of [the card] it says to anyone's grandson the state of Nebraska," Marasco said.
The card came from a 77-year-old grandmother.
30 years later, Marasco still holds on to it.
"She highlights her age and everything else," Marasco said. "You know at this time I'm a 22-year-old combat veteran and I get this and it just absolutely resonated with me, I keep this and I bring it out every holiday season because this really meant a lot to me back then."
He says the card means even more now.
"I recognize that someone took the time to spend five or 10 minutes mail this off and never know who's going to be on the receiving end of it, just adds that value to me today," he said. "This is somebody that if I ever had the chance to meet, I would love to meet them."
That's why Rebecca Barrientos-Patlan gets the community together every year to send holiday cards to troops.
"A lot of the troops, they're not with their families, they could be across the seas, you know across the states and we want them to be remembered during the holidays and Christmas," Barrientos-Patlan said.
Local companies are providing thousands of cards for community members to sign.
Patlan says cards are personal coming from one heart to another.
"They may not know who the card's from," she said. "But we believe every solider out there is fighting for our freedom and we honor them."
"Just saying that somebody's out there that cares it's remarkable," Marasco said.
The holiday card event takes place at the American Legion Post 331 on Saturday from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
