News of the Nature Coast of Florida

By Jim Hunter
Citrus County Communication Resources Director

She is not a military veteran, but she is a veteran of another sort, one who may be the soldier’s best friend - and now she getting a lot of help as the Citrus County firefighters throw their support behind her.

Angel Hardy is only 10 years old, and she has organized - with her dad’s help - a number of drives to collect phone cards and personal items for American soldiers fighting overseas.

Her father, Ray Hardy, said it began when her uncle, a first-grade teacher, went overseas and told her one of the things the service men and women wanted most was phone cards to call their families. That’s all it took. At her young age, she has already gotten awards for her
work.

She is still at it, and now she is organizing another campaign. Her dad is a retired Deputy Fire Chief for the county, and Angel asked his former co-workers, Citrus County firefighters, for help. They jumped at the chance.

The firefighters will be utilizing a number of their stations and other locations to help the determined youngster collect phone cards and personal items for the men and women serving in combat areas.

There are various ways to help, Angel says, either by buying and donating some personal items (see lists for men and women) or phone time cards, or helping to pay for the postage to send the packages overseas. Angel says she continues to do it because, “I really want to help out the soldiers and make them happy and let them call home and have some of the stuff they need.”

Drop-off locations include:

• The Ice Cream Dr. at 106 N. Pine Ave. in Inverness
• Downtown Inverness Fire Station (#2) at 105 S. Apopka Ave.
• Homosassa Fire Station (#3) at 8408 W. Homosassa Trail
• Fire Station (#7) at 800 N. Rock Crusher Road east of Crystal River
• The fire station (#20) at 4785 N. Elkcam Blvd. near Beverly Hills
• Cinnamon Sticks Café (new location adjacent Sheriff’s Operations building on Main Street
• The Lecanto Government Building at the government complex off County Road 491 (lobby).

For information call Angel or her father at 633-6913, 201-1308, 201-9372, or 201-1306.

• Click here for a printable list of items needed by service men and women