Geri Willis and Nola Hix

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has over 500 reservists and active service members stationed in areas across the globe. These soldiers who fight for our freedom and march beyond the boundaries of our nation to ensure domestic tranquility often witness the darkest parts of humanity on the battlefield. 

Operation Homefront founder Gerri Willis, left, and coordinator Nola Hix, right, have united the community every year in sending hundreds of care packages to those fighting for our freedom overseas during the holiday season. (Thomas A. Manglona II)

The emotional struggle and mental strain that a soldier experiences can be hard to overcome. However, Geri Willis and Nola Hix of the CNMI Operation Homefront help alleviate the stress and make the holiday season a thousand miles away from home more jubilant by spearheading a drive every year to send care packages to them.

Cans of Spam and tuna, bags of rice crackers, bowls of dry ramen noodles, and cherished island souvenirs lift the spirits of the soldiers, because of the work of these two community crusaders.

Geri Willis, whose father served as a member of the Air Force in World War II, founded the organization seven years ago. Since then, hundreds of care packages have been sent to soldiers overseas with the collaboration of schools, businesses, and companies on island. 

“I wanted to do something for the soldiers because I have been doing a lot of work with them,” she said. “I thought this is the best way to help them out, especially during the holidays.”

“The soldiers are always dear to my heart,” Willis said, tears streaking her face. “The hope of this entire organization is that all of them will come home. That is the real hope.” 

Willis has been involved in education all her life and arrived on Saipan in 2001 as a professor at the Northern Marianas College. She was then named as the U.S Department of Defense Troops-To-Teachers coordinator for the CNMI and Guam.

In April 2007 she received Senate Resolution 15-38 and House Resolution 15-102 recognizing her dedication, commitment and invaluable contributions to the educational system and community.

Willis developed and wrote grants totaling up to over$2 million that funded the Public School System’s AmeriCorps tutoring program from 2006 to 2012. She also served as the Director for the Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, developed the Office of Institutional Affairs and wrote its first manual. 

Before arriving on island, Willis wrote stories of war zones in the Middle East as a freelance journalist, standing alongside the very people she fervently admires and would soon assist through her organization.

She was awarded a medallion of Highest Commendation for Excellence to servicemen from the Thunderbolt Brigade out of Camp Basra, Iraq. Willis remains active on island while on the Salvation Army’s board of directors. 

Humble beginnings

Operation Homefront’s first care package was put together in a small room at the Saipan Army Reserve Center and the number of recipients and volunteers have grown substantially since then. The organization earned the distinction of being the first of its kind in Micronesia in 2007. 

A total of 338 packages were sent to soldiers last November, an increase from the 280 packages sent to service members in 2013. 

Both Hix and Willis attribute much of the group’s success to the several schools and sponsors who contribute food and monetary donations. 

“The entire community has really made the program what it is every year. It has not been any one individual.”

The efforts of Willis and Hix have touched the hearts of soldiers in the deepest parts of the battleground throughout the globe.

Willis said the operation continues to receive calls from around the world from soldiers not from the CNMI requesting that a care package be sent to them. 

“In the end this is something we want to do for our soldiers. After all the things they have done for us, this is just something small that we can do for them.” 

Hix, who is also a board member of the American Red Cross, assumed her position as coordinator in 2009, a few months after volunteering at a previous packaging event. 

“I remember going to the troop store for one of the packaging sessions. It was a small place and a ton of people came. It took us five hours to complete the entire thing,” she said in an interview with Saipan Tribune. “After going throughout the years and events, she [Willis] eventually asked me to jump on board.”

Hix, the sponsorship chairwoman for the March Against Cancer, gladly joined the operation and was instrumental in recruiting major sponsors like the Hyatt Regency and Xerox Corporation along with several private and public schools on island to take part in the program.  

The number of volunteers who package the goods has grown exponentially because of Hix’s involvement. The group now welcomes over a hundred student volunteers during their annual packaging day. 

“What used to take us five hours to do now takes us about one hour,” she said. “We also send the packages out around Thanksgiving so that the soldiers receive it before the holidays.”

For Hix, the organization’s mission is personal. “There are some soldiers who have not received a care package from home. So every year we give them something to look forward to,” she said. 

The result of Operation Homefront’s efforts are visible in the island community as military families receive more support.

One soldier who returned to the islands visited an elementary student who sent him a letter and a care package, to thank her for keeping him in her thoughts and prayers. 

“The feedback has been so positive from both the soldiers and families. We want to provide some comfort and hope that they are safe,” Hix said. “We can’t pull them out of the battle zones, but we can give them hope.” 

Another CNMI soldier requested for a care package after reading an online article about the organization, while he was in a submarine in the Mediterranean Ocean.

U.S Army Specialist Kevin Atalig was sent a care package as well and said he was wasn’t expecting any gifts for the holidays, but was elated to receive the package.

He added, “It is nice to receive all the goodies and have a taste of something I eat at home. I thank the people behind Operation Homefront for supporting troops like me.”