Movie program to help Nevada's deployed troops

Carson City's P.J. Degross has come up with a way to support Nevada troops in overseas conflicts by providing them with one comfort of home.

Called "Take a Soldier to the Movies," Degross is asking for people to prepare small care packages that fit into a large Ziploc bag and provide troops with everything they'd need to enjoy a night at the movies.

The bags should contain new or used DVDs, two bags of microwave popcorn, some pre-sweetened drink mix, theater-sized boxes of candy and a greeting card. Degross is asking that for every movie package you submit, you also donate $1 toward shipping costs.

"It is really a fun thing to do, not very expensive because they can use pre-owned DVDs," Degross said. "I need at least 700 (packages) to fulfill the needs of our Nevada National Guard deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq now."

Degross is founder of Web of Support, a nationally recognized soldier-adoption program based in Carson City that matches up families in the U.S. with deployed soldiers to whom they would send care packages and cards. Degross said that to participate people just need to assemble a package and drop it off at Charley's Grilled Subs in the Carson Mall.

Degross plans to ship the packages on Nov. 20. For more information or to make a donation, e-mail pjdahling

@aol.com.