“Hats for Heroes” heroine supplies troops
Published: August 13, 2007
Fort Myers resident Debbie Ringsmuth has been undertaking a labor of love for the past four years for her “kids.”
Asked how it all started, Ringsmuth spoke of her 48 year-old “kid.”
“The first person I got involved with was a Vietnam vet named Scott Estabrook,” Ringsmuth said. “He had served in Vietnam in a helicopter unit.”
Estabrook’s son is now in the same helicopter unit but serving in western Iraq at
Al Asad. Because he is a recipient of Ringsmuth’s care packages he also qualifies as a kid.
“My actual kids get angry when I call them kids,” Ringsmuth said. “Some of these kids are 48 years old. Some are 17. All military children, personnel. I’ve adopted them through different means.”
“Hats for Heroes” is the current means by which Ringsmuth adopts kids. Its goal is to provide headwear for military personnel who sometimes lack for supplies. Ringsmuth recalled how she was inspired to undertake this challenge.
“All the kids are issued military hats,” Ringsmuth said. “Sometimes they go to Qatar on R ‘n’ R and they play football or baseball and I saw pictures of them without hats and I saw them squinting in the sun and I thought it would be good for their morale. Something small to remind them of home.”
Ringsmuth’s signs read: “HATS FOR HEROES Donations of new baseball caps are needed for our troops in the Middle East.” However, she emphasized she was interested in more than just new baseball caps and has already sent many varieties in a package of about 300 hats.
“I got them fishing hats. Fireman hats,” Ringsmuth said. “An FBI agent hat. Actually a friend of mine, her brother was an FBI agent. One lady was very nice. Her name was Megan. She hand painted hats for women. Beautiful hats. Some of the people put a lot into it. She put beadwork and stuff into it.”
Previous drives have garnered items such as gum, lip balm, notes and peanuts. And the recipients of her care packages are as varied as the contents of the packages themselves. She expressed concern for poor kids in the service but her gifts are for all the kids.
“They are great kids. Some people don’t have money to send packages or have no family at all,” Ringsmuth said. “You can be Bill Gates’ son and I’ll still take you. I’ve had five women. For a long time up until a year I didn’t have any women. I’ve had them from every state every color of the rainbow and now have someone from Netherlands. People can write notes too. They are sent off with the packages.”
Asked what other challenges she faced, Ringsmuth said, “They’re told not to ask for anything - it’s a military rule. If I have them for a year sometimes it takes them six months to ask me for anything. It’s a specific type of food you would like. Lip balm. Notoriously they don’t ever ask.”
As far as the darker realities military personnel face, Ringsmuth has been mostly free from bad news.
“There’s a local young man, I’m not sure if he wants me to give me his name out, he called me about four days ago and said he had been injured,” Ringsmuth said. “A lot of them leave the military but I still stay in contact with them.”
Ringsmuth said she needs all the help she can get.
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