Soldier from Minot delivers thanks

Minot's generosity might be too much of a good thing for the Army, but it's a source of pride for Army Maj. Gary Kramlich.

Kramlich, the son of Gary and Glory Kramlich of Minot, told the Minot Kiwanis Club recently that his pride in Minot was worth the dust-up with Army officials after the area's shoe donations overwhelmed the military's postal service. Thousands of people in Afghanistan didn't go barefoot last winter because of Minot.

"I was very grateful and very proud to be a part of that," Kramlich said. "Minot made a impact on people who may never know - certainly may never visit - Minot, but certainly benefited, and are grateful to them for the outpouring of warmth and heartfelt sentiment."

Kramlich learned of the need for shoes for the people of Afghanistan during a site survey there. Children were walking around in snow without shoes. Kramlich saw humanitarian groups delivering international donations so he asked his mother, Glory Kramlich, in Minot to see if the parents at the daycare where she worked would be willing to donate shoes that their children no longer needed.

Several months later, in August 2009, his mother sent him a Web link to a Minot Daily News article that showed his parents standing by a moving truck with the sign, "Afghan shoe donations."

"I thought, ‘Oh, here we go. This isn't going to be a couple of boxes of shoes.' This ended up being a couple shipping containers worth of shoes. That gave me enough time to start energizing the system on my end. And it was overwhelming," Kramlich said.

High points of the campaign included the involvement of Jim Hill Middle School students in collecting shoes and raising $351. Quilters at Our Redeemer's Lutheran Church gave 100 quilts. Thomas Hinzpeter at Mayflower Transit Co. lent a warehouse and a truck that was loaded and unloaded six times.

At the height of Christmas shipments, the Army asked Kramlich to turn off the flow of shoes and blankets because the number of overall packages was more than its system could handle. Kramlich didn't notify his mother right away, and more packages came, causing Army officials to take Kramlich to task.

"They (shoes) got sent back and I wasn't happy about that. There was a lot of drama," he said. "The postmaster at the Minot Post Office didn't get the word. He thought, obviously, they wouldn't send the shoes back that it was a mistake. So he sent them again."

When the shoes returned, exasperated Army officials called Kramlich on the carpet again.

"It did create a dust-up," he said. However, this time the shoes stayed.

Operation Care had coordinated the shoe and blanket deliveries through various aid groups. The Army itself gave away shoes and other donations when its civil affairs unit met with community leaders in Afghanistan.

The end of the campaign still left a garage full of shoes at his parents' home. The senior Gary Kramlich said the response was difficult to cut off and shoes kept coming. That's when the Kramlichs connected with Soles4Souls, a St. Louis, Mo., based charity that was providing shoes to Haiti at the time.

"That became a way to get them to people in need that met the intent of everyone involved," the younger Kramlich said.

Mile One Running Shop in Minot later established a drop-off point for donations to Soles4Souls.

Kramlich ended his deployment to Afghanistan last June and has been stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., with his wife and three daughters.

He returns to Afghanistan this fall but said he's not ready to commit to another shoe campaign just yet.

"I have to get there first and see what the system can handle before I say anything official. But it certainly was overwhelming. I was very proud to represent the community of Minot there. I did get to hand out some shoes to kids who were obviously in need," he said. "I look forward to having that impact again."