RoseMary Fleck's grandson sent her a letter nearly four years ago from Afghanistan asking whether anybody back home appreciated the efforts of soldiers like himself.

Brian Titus, an Army paratrooper, wrote: "Doesn't anybody care that we're over here willing to give our lives for them."

Since then, the 72-year-old disabled Bismarck woman has been determined to show troops around the world that she does care, with handwritten thank-you cards and care packages containing everything from beef jerky to bug spray.

"What better friend can you have than someone who will to give their lives for our freedom?" Fleck said Sunday.

Fleck and a handful of volunteers have sent about 250 care packages to troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Germany and stateside.

"All we we're doing is showing the troops we care," Fleck said. "Our goal is 1,000 packages and 1,000 packages after that."

The packages are sent to members of all services, most of whom are from North Dakota, she said.

"Their names are given to us by their friends, the military or family members," Fleck said.

Fleck's volunteers are part of the 1st Combat Evaluation Veterans Group, Veterans Supporting Our Troops. The group's title has more words than members at this point, she said.

"We have about four or five members, sometimes eight or 9 and sometimes 12," Fleck said. "We have never been a large group."

Dan Biesheuvel, of Bismarck, became a member of the group after his son, Ryan, an Army reservist serving in Afghanistan, got one of the special care packages.

"Nothing brightens those guys' days like getting something from back home," Biesheuvel said.

"RoseMary - her dedication to the troops is so amazing," Biesheuvel said. He said he's known her to be up until 4 a.m. packing boxes for the troops.

Fleck, who suffers from a degenerative muscular disease, said the illness only "slows me down some." She keeps busy nearly every day packing parcels.

"She's really an inspiration to me, I'll tell you," Biesheuvel said of Fleck, who also is a breast cancer survivor.

Biesheuvel said Fleck bought dozens of pairs of gloves for some children in Afghanistan, after his son told her they had none.

Products for the packages comes from donations. Each is stuffed with more than $100 worth of items. The parcels cost about $16 to ship.

"You'd be amazed how much we can stuff in these boxes," she said.

Her modest apartment near downtown Bismarck is overflowing with items to be sent to the troops. Card tables are heavy with such items as socks, toothbrushes, sunflower seeds, deodorant and candy.

"Sunflower seeds, socks and Spam were the favorites, but we quit sending Spam out of respect for the Iraqis, Fleck said. "They don't eat pork."

Fleck and other volunteers also sell yellow ribbons, with money from the sales going toward sending care packages to troops, she said.

"Every penny we earn goes for care packages," she said.

Fleck and her group also attached yellow ribbons to about two dozen huge elm trees that line the Capitol grounds in Bismarck. The ribbons have been there for more than three years, she said.

Fleck and some other volunteers from Bismarck plan to hold a donation drive next weekend in Fargo.

Fleck said the men and women who get the care packages are thankful.

"We appreciated them over there and they appreciated what we do for them," Fleck said.