news-record.com

Brea Evans grabbed the shipping box and started filling it with the kinds of products she, her friends and their mothers use on their own hair.

“I know she’s going to be excited that someone picked this up for her,” the 13-year-old said. She and a couple of dozen others at the “Sister Soldier” packing party at Bethel AME Church on Saturday made their way through an assembly line of Dudley ethnic hair care items and toiletries.

The items are destined for African American soldiers in combat zones.

Evans, whose Girl Scout troop helped out, doesn’t know a thing about the soldier whose name appears on the box’s label, except that she’s serving in Iraq.

But such packing parties are catching on across the country. The Sister Soldier Project already has shipped thousands of care packages — more than 6 tons of goods. The project is based in Grover Beach, Calif., but it has connections with local groups.

For black female troops serving in the Middle East, ethnic hair care products often are difficult to obtain, even where there’s a military store.

“Especially in the inhospitable climate of that region,” said Myraline Morris Whitaker, the founder of the national initiative, who flew from California to Greensboro this weekend to take part because the church has committed to several more parties in 2010.

“Grab a package, look at your soldier’s name and fill that box with love,” Whitaker urged as the packing began.

In September, the project was awarded the 2009 Congressional Black Caucus’ Veterans Braintrust Award.

The award is in recognition of its “service to and support of the U.S. Armed Forces” and its “unique understanding of the special position of African American servicemen and women.”

“We need oils, we needs moisturizers, we need conditioners — all of those items are key in all that heat,” said Eunice Dudley, co-founder of Dudley Beauty Corp., a global ethnic hair care company based in the Triad that donated some of the items. “I’m sure they’re going to be shouting for joy when they open those boxes.”

Can she get an “Amen,” Chris Rock?

Rock’s documentary, “Good Hair,” shows to what length black women will go — and have to go — to care for hair usually described as the antithesis to “wash and wear.”

When possible, these packages are filled with specific, requested hair products ranging from relaxers to conditioners.

“As women, we go to get our hair done constantly, and some of us have standing weekly appointments,” said Michelle Thompson, the Girl Scout co-leader at St. Matthews United Methodist Church on Florida Street. Her Girl Scouts and congregation are packing boxes early next year.

“It’s not the most important thing they have to worry about in a war zone, but a lot of them are probably faced with, 'What can I do with my hair?’’’ Thompson said.

The parties are usually hosted by one or more local churches, educational institutions, sororities or women’s social organizations, who typically pack and ship up to 100 or more individual boxes.

And, it’s not just in the name of vanity.

“I am in serious need of hair care products,” writes soldier “Brittany” on Whitaker’s Web site, which is full of pictures of female soldiers serving overseas. “Right now all I have is ... completely drying my hair out.”

For those who participate in the packing parties, it’s also a unique way to be patriotic, said Victoria Davis, Bethel’s Girl Scout leader.

“This lets them serve those individuals who protect us with such dedication and sacrifice,” Davis said.

Corporate sponsors such as Dudley, whose laboratories were featured in Rock’s movie, donate hair care products and the local organizers pack up the products and pay for shipping, which is about $10 a box. Usually, groups will include items such as toiletries, ranging from travel-size deodorant to toothpaste. Bethel also sent magazines and music CDs.

Soldiers can make requests for products at www.sistersoldierproject.com.

Other boxes are packed for names culled from several sources, including www.anysoldier.com.

Katie Cozart, recalling her two brothers serving in the Korean War, included a bottle of Dudley PCA Moisture Retainer as she packed a box.

“They always said their favorite time of the day was mail call,” Cozart said about her brothers.

Lucy T. Sligh, whose only child, Alvin, died serving in the military, wanted to help out because she says it’s another creative way of being supportive to those in uniform.

“I can’t do much but I can do this,” Sligh said.

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com