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The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa., Bill White columnJul 10, 2012 (The Morning Call - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- I threw Sara Donner's name into our newspaper library system and found hits for two photos. One was when the Lehighton girl was 10 years old. She and three friends were doing cartwheels at the Community Grove. The second photo accompanied a story about area students writing to survivors of the Columbine school massacre. The caption reads, "Sara Donner, a 17-year-old junior at Lehighton High School, on Tuesday writes a sympathy letter to add to the batch ... bound for Columbine High School in Colorado." It's nice when the paper can chronicle a local girl growing up. You can see the third photo here today. Air Force Staff Sgt. Sara Donner, now 30 years old, is serving her country in Afghanistan as a handler with the Military Working Dog Program. Her partner is a German shepherd named Jony, pronounced Johnny and named, as many of these dogs are, after a victim of the Sept. 11 attacks. Donner came to my attention because someone from the Kiwanis Club of Allentown-Salisbury, celebrating its 50th year, submitted an article about one of its service projects. Through members Mel and Marilyn Leaver's connections to Sara and her parents, Gary and Karen Donner of Lehighton, the group learned that she and the rest of her unit of dog handlers were craving snack foods from home. As Gary explained to me, they feed the troops well enough, but servicepeople are grateful for any package from home and particularly for the kinds of snacks they can't get over there. So the Kiwanis Club sent them a box stuffed with energy bars, fruit bars, snack crackers, Slim Jims, power drinks, candy bars, pretzels and more. The package even included a rawhide bone for Jony. All this stuff was divvied up among the troops and much appreciated. Roger Persing, a past president and charter member of the club, said, "This is the most satisfying project our club has undertaken in the 50 years I have been a member." Club member Wally Ely, my longtime partner in the annual Christmas Lights TV program for RCN, told me the club has shrunk to just nine members from its onetime high of about 40 in the 1960s. "With attrition, deaths, whatever, it's just so hard to replace the membership," he said. "We just don't seem to able to get enough interested people who want to get to work and do something." Among other service projects, they have been providing books for a local child care center and sending members in to read. They also hope to send Sara more snack food care packages. The club's breakfast meetings are held 7:30 the first and third Wednesday each month at Perkins Restaurant on Lehigh Street, Allentown. Sara's dad told me she graduated with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Kutztown University and worked for Carbon County Youth Services before joining the Air Force security forces. She was stationed in Cheyenne, Wyo., where she got to know the kennel master for the working dogs at her base and decided to put in for the program. She ended up at the Military Working Dog School in Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, where, as it happens, my wife and I saw a demonstration by handlers and dogs one time in front of the Alamo. They were amazing. She was transferred to Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, where Sara became Jony's handler about six months ago. Dogs work either in drug or explosives detection, and Sara chose explosives. Gary explained to me that she and Jony work both inside and outside "the wire," inspecting vehicles coming on the base for explosives and also going outside to look for IEDs. "She winds up being the point person," he said. "They want a dog out on the end of the leash, and then she's next." I emailed Sara, who responded: "As always, everyone over here enjoys receiving and appreciates any mail from home, especially when it has snacks that remind you of food that is hard to come by while deployed. Thank you. "Jony is my Air Force Military Working Dog, and it is always a pleasure working with him and other dogs from the kennel. Jony is a particularly active dog, so he is always fun to be around and work with. The experiences I gain from training and working with Military Working Dogs really makes me appreciate all the opportunities serving our country provides. "So far I'm grateful I've got the chance to deploy to Afghanistan and serve my country in a different capacity then when I was stateside. My job is essentially the same; however, knowing that every day my job is contributing to the overall safety of other service members and the people of Afghanistan makes all the sacrifice worth it." One of the photos her father sent me showed the unit standing in front of one of their transporters, which looks like something out of "Star Wars." It's designed to protect them as they're looking for IEDs. If this sounds like dangerous work, it's because it is. I couldn't help identifying with Sara's parents, since I have a daughter just a few years younger and it's easy to imagine my mixed feelings of pride and dread if she were serving in a combat zone. "She knows what she's doing," Gary said, "but we wish she was home." [email protected] 610-820-6105 Bill White's commentary appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. ___ (c)2012 The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) Visit The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) at www.mcall.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |