NORTH BEND — A steady stream of flat-rate postal boxes have been heading out of North Bend each month and heading for Germany and Afghanistan.

All the boxes Bernie Swenson mails each month contain hats, scarves, gloves and other things for wounded soldiers and kids in Afghanistan to keep warm.

For more than two years, friends have gathered to make Hats for Heroes and send them overseas. So far, they’ve sent more than 2,500.

Volunteers have a room in the back of the building with a large table in the middle. Two of the walls have storage space stuffed with remnant pieces of cloth, yarn, decorations and many other small items for their crafts.

Every Thursday is craft day at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in North Bend. Anyone can go to the church to work on a variety of projects including items for the annual Christmas bazaar and to  help others who want to learn how to sew and mend.

There also are several sewing machines ready for use.

The hats program started when Ruth Wiley’s late son, Lt. Col. James Wiley, told his mother of the needs of wounded soldiers arriving from the battlefields.

“He took us out one day we were in Germany. We would see these big, black planes coming in and landing,” Wiley recalled of a trip to visit her son. “They would take the wounded off and they would go over to the hospital.”

“When they are wounded, they don’t have time to pack a suitcase before they come, so Jim wanted hats and gloves and scarves.”

She talked to Bernie Swenson at the church and soon lots of stuff started heading to Germany.

“We started the Hats for Heroes because Jimmy Wiley asked us if we wouldn’t do hats for the hospital and it just grew into this,” Swenson said.

Anyone is welcome to come help on Thursdays.

“We did not know that our soldiers needed stump covers to cover their amputated limbs and that they needed hats to wear when they went outside to have a cigarette. When they get to the hospital from the battlefield, they have nothing with them,” Swenson said.

“So this is just a touch of home for our soldiers.”

Wiley said a school made blankets and sent them to Germany. Inside the packages were photos and notes of the kids. Those soldiers “really, really cherished those notes and pictures. It made it real personal.”

In September 2007, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Wiley was sent to Afghanistan. While he was there, he visited different villages and he noticed  children were cold with no shoes and quite often hungry.

“The life expectancy wasn’t good for them,” he told his mom.

“So he wrote to me and asked if I would start sending some extra things we might have.”

She talked to Swenson and the Thursday sewing group just started making more hats and gloves.

Swenson said she tries “to make a monthly visit (to the post office). It’s probably eight boxes that go out on a monthly basis with hats and items.”

Money for shipping comes from contributions. The large flat-rate box is almost $11 for postage. Swenson is not sure how much they have spent so far on postage.

“We don’t care what the cost is. A way will be found.”

“A special thanks to Lt. Col. Jim Wiley who is no longer with us, that he started this. He is the one that made us aware of the needs.”

Wiley was killed on Sept. 18, 2008, at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.

Before he died, Wiley told his mother, “You can’t stop a war by just dealing with the older people. You have to go to the youngsters and get them to believe in you. Make a youngster believe in you; wars would stop.”

The Hats for Heroes is continuing and the items are still being shipped out.

“It’s such a gift to us as well as them. They have given so much, and we give so little,” Wiley said.

Hats for Heros