As many of you know, FedEx has been a HUGE part of the toy drive and Operation Give. Our contact with FedEx is Gary. Gary has been a major reason things have gone as smoothly as they have.

A while ago, I asked Gary to write up his story as it relates to the Chief and to Operation Give. After some gentle proding, Gary has come through.

I hope you enjoy his words as much as I have.

Prologue  

First, you should understand that Paul and I were not much more than acquaintances before he transformed himself into Chief Wiggles.  I met him, through work, for the first time about four years ago, and in all that time we might have had all of about 30 minutes of non-work face time with each other, until we were roommates for a couple nights at a business meeting just a few weeks before he shipped out.  I’m sure Paul would say that there was divine intervention in making sure we roomed together, and I don’t think I would disagree.  So all of this began without very much history.  And now I think we’ve made some history.  I won’t be able to tell the whole story here; just the best parts.

The Journey Begins 
 
When Paul shipped out, I had no idea we would be able to maintain contact with him; my only hope was that he might keep in touch with our manager, perhaps by mail or email, and I really had no idea at the beginning that he might be gone a year.  I think Paul had mentioned that Desert Storm 11 years earlier had been much less than a year’s stint of active duty.  So I occasionally remembered to keep him in my prayers.

I think it was some time around late April that I was surprised to see an email from him in my inbox, and Paul told me about the Chief Wiggles website and attached one of his first journals.  As I read about his Spartan living conditions and the oppressive heat, I flashed back 40 years (can it possibly be that long?) to memories of sitting in my kitchen with my mother, boxing up Ivory soap (“if washing up in a river, it floats if you drop itâ€�), toilet paper, and other first-aid items to send to a second cousin serving as a Corpsman in Viet Nam.  I asked Paul if there was anything I could send him to help improve his situation, and his requests were pretty mundane:  deodorant, shampoo, soap, shaving cream, and the like.  I showed his email to a long-time co-worker in my office, Terry (who has never met Paul), and we started purchasing whatever we could and sent it off to Paul via the APO system.  Besides the previous list, our first supplies included fly strips, insect repellent, toilet paper, Wet Wipes, razors, hand cream, fly swatters, white socks, and non-chocolate candy.

It wasn’t very long before Paul mentioned that he could use items to give to the POW’s he was interrogating (including the famous Generals).  While the Toys Through Joys campaign will be Paul’s legacy, I think his care and concern for the Generals and other POW’s was equally remarkable.  So with Paul’s guidance, Terry and I (with some help from one of my other co-workers) began to send supplies that Paul could give to them, including flashlights, flip-flops, more socks, individual-sized shampoo and soap, combs, and more candy and snacks.  I remember one special shipment where Terry bought Paul a really nice air mattress (he was still sleeping on a cot) and I sent him a “Hawkeye Pierceâ€� Hawaiian shirt, and together we had bought a large, collapsible cooler bag to use to take cold drinks and ice to the Generals.

Chief Wiggles  

Somewhere around this time, Paul began describing his “Angel Missionsâ€� out to see the Iraqi people in the area.  He began giving out some of the supplies we had sent to him, so we expanded our shopping list and began sending him items for the children, including candy (of course), smaller socks and flip-flops, first-aid and hygiene items, and toys.  Terry was dismayed that only a few weeks earlier she had just donated a large supply of her daughters’ stuffed animals to another charity, but she found some others, and we bought more.  The monkey that Paul gave to the little girl---the story that started the remarkable Chief Wiggles Joys Through Toys campaign---came from Terry, and the other supplies he gave the little girl came from us. 

By this time I had shared the Chief Wiggles story with family and friends, and my mother Audrey and her friend Jim (both live in Florida), and my aunt Barb and her daughter Sally (both live near me) were captivated, and then motivated by the Chief Wiggles story, and they all became regular contributors of both money and supplies.  In fact, the stuffed lion that Paul gave to the crestfallen US military dentist to brighten her day had been, just three weeks earlier, thrust into my arms by it’s previous owner, Sally, who took it right off her couch and said “Send this to Chief Wiggles!â€�.  With the additional source of funds, Terry and I began sending over more and more supplies, including, when possible, food items for Paul to use for his cookouts.  Ask the Chief some time about Fig Newtons!!!!

The Chief’s Reach 

Until October, the only way to send things to Paul was through the APO system, which meant (for us) using about 40% of our funds to pay for Priority Mail service.  Just as the Toys Through Joys campaign overwhelmed this system and Paul was told to shut it down, FedEx (for whom Paul and Terry and I work) opened up limited service to Baghdad.  Paul was in the CPA Palace in the US-controlled green zone, so he had an actual address.  I took his story to our Community Relations department at our HQ (it helps to have been here 20 years…I knew some high-level contacts!).  They were as captivated by the story as they were proud of Paul, a FedEx employee, and we began looking for ways for FedEx to pick up the transportation of the supplies to Baghdad. 

The Chief Wiggles story is remarkable in many ways, but perhaps mostly in the way it captures the hearts and minds of most people who read it.  I remember seeing that over 1,000 emails came in after Paul’s “Send me more toys!â€� message appeared on his website and thinking “I wonder how many will follow through?â€�.  I feel embarrassed now about my doubt.  It did not take long until another “angelâ€� was touched by the Chief Wiggles story.  Jean is an admin assistant who works in our Corporate Communications department and had authored a Chief Wiggles story for our intranet, and she was instantly captivated.  She organized her own support group and they sent an incredible amount of supplies, including Christmas gifts for everyone on Paul’s team, as well as decorations for their office.  There were others from FedEx who responded and supported the Joys Through Toys and Operation Give campaigns.

There are lots of other small stories, including the trials and tribulations of the bikes, some last minute snafu’s with FedEx’s ability to send materials to Baghdad, and more stories of Paul reaching out and touching the hearts of others (the Chief’s story was featured in a sermon at my church).  Maybe if he does actually write a book about this experience there will be the time and space to include them.

The Future  

My wife Stacey, who so willingly helped me support Paul’s efforts, asked me why I thought the whole Chief Wiggles story had touched me so deeply and moved me to participate so fully in his work.  My answer was immediate---Chief Wiggles is a story of incredible compassion and amazing selflessness, carried out in the midst of a hostile, deadly environment.  Just being in Iraq this past year has meant Paul’s life was on the line 24/7.  But then, every time he ventured forth, going out into the community when he did not have to do so, he was putting a huge target on his back.  It is certainly wonderful to donate one’s time and efforts and money to charitable causes, and actually working for them, such as Habitat for Humanity, Appalachian Service Project, etc.  But to do so in a war zone, where there is a very real enemy who wants to kill you, was so overwhelming to me.  Paul didn’t have to do any of this.  He could have done his job and spent the rest of the time just trying to survive.  The selflessness of his actions touched me deeply. 

I talked with Paul by phone, for the first time, just after Christmas.  He mentioned that he and I have a bond now that will never be broken, and I agreed, adding that I felt as if he was the brother I never had.  I have always been very active in my church and supported humanitarian and charitable efforts as best I could with both my time and money.  My involvement in the Chief Wiggles story, even if there were no future involvement, will be my most cherished example of personally putting my faith into action.

But I think there will be some kind of future involvement.  I just get the feeling the Chief is not going to let go of my mind or heart any time soon.

Selflessness 

None of this would have been possible without Paul.  Terry has been there to help from the beginning, and she and I and Stacey, together with my Mom and Jim, Sally and Barb, have spent just over $2,000 in our support of the Chief; I could not have done much without them.  Jean from Memphis was such an inspiration to me.  There are many others who helped get FedEx involved, especially a very dedicated operations team over in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq, as well as Pat, our FedEx senior manager who helped out at the Operation Give warehouse in Maryland.  The story of Chief Wiggles started with one man, but it is so very much bigger than Paul or any of us who have been involved.  When “Plungeâ€� asked me for a write up, my inclination was to deflect the request, because it might seem too self-serving.  After reflection (Paul would be so pleased about that!), I decided to go ahead, because perhaps someone who reads this will understand how some simple act of kindness and selflessness can be the beginning of something so incredibly good and noble.  And in the future, we will need as many Chief Wiggles as we can get to make this world a better place.

One small package for a man; one giant gift of joy to Mankind.

God bless Chief Wiggles, and God bless you all.

Gary