Mt. Morris American Legion Post 143 made a $250 donation to “All Hands On Deck,” an outreach project of the Evangelical Free Church of Mt. Morris.

The community-wide project is sending care packages to all 350 sailors aboard the USS Fitzgerald, deployed to the Middle East since June 2.

Lt. Logan Murphy, command chaplain of the ship, served as the associate pastor of EFCMM before joining the United States Navy in 2023. He and his family lived in Mt. Morris from 2018 to 2023.

“We are grateful for this generous donation to ‘All Hands On Deck,’” said Joyce Long, the volunteer coordinator of the project. “This will go a long way towards purchasing items to include in the care packages as well as defer shipping costs.”

The American Legion is dedicated to the well-being of all veterans and active-duty servicemen and servicewomen.

“We appreciate the opportunity to lend a hand to this very worthwhile project,” Post Commander Stan Ballard said.

The care packages will be shipped by Oct. 17. They are expected to arrive before Christmas, bringing with them 350 hand-written thank-you notes and a bit of holiday cheer to all sailors aboard the ship.