Vol 2: Issue 1
Spring 2006

Supplying the Comforts of Home

Part-time District Court Judge Paul S. Moore of Nashua and his sister Carole Moore Biggio, their parents, children, friends and volunteers, have shipped more than 1,400 care packages to members of military serving in the Middle East, filled with things they miss from home—and then some. There are the basics—medicated foot powder, soap, coffee, licorice and Oreos—and then there are the hand held computer games, specialty foods, marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate for S’mores, a VCR and 40 tapes, used golf clubs and balls, and a windsock.

SSG Brian Moore, 197th Artillery division of the U.S. Army National Guard

The family began the project two years ago when Moore’s brother Brian was deployed to Iraq with the 197th Artillery division of the U.S. Army National Guard out of Concord and Berlin. The effort grew after Brian was redeployed to Afganistan, the variety of items being shipped overseas expanded and the soldiers nicknamed the project “MooreMart.” The boxes are assembled in a conference room at Moore’s law office in Nashua. Now, every six weeks, MooreMart is shipping a box to 280 servicemen and women filled with the basics, but also at least one “unique” item and a card or letter from a school student. “We know that people haven’t forgotten us,” one soldier wrote to Moore after receiving a package, “but it is nice to be reassured.”

Recently, MooreMart started sponsoring two schools in Afghanistan sending them two large boxes of school supplies a month. Since last August, American Legion Post 27 in Londonderry has been MooreMart sponsor and helped generate support. A local ski mountain donated its used jackets which MooreMart matched up with hats and gloves and shipped to Afghani civilians.
After Judge Moore’s alma mater, Northeastern Law School, featured a story about him in their alumni magazine, donations, and requests for boxes, jumped. MooreMart is now working with the B Company 1st Battalion 25th Marine Reserve Unit out of Londonderry, on active duty in Iraq and they supply boxes to the military processing center in Kuwait, which soldiers pass through on their way in and out of the Middle East. They are also sending boxes—all 12 x 12 x 8—to Afghan soldiers near Kabul and to American Special Forces, also in Afghanistan.

“Any service man or woman serving in the Middle East, if we get their name, regardless of where they are from, they get a box,” said Judge Moore, who has been a parttime District Court judge for four years. A U.S. Army veteran who served in Korea, Moore, knows the value of a package from home. “It was big because it was my connection with the states,” Moore remembered. “What makes this project so important is that these soldiers know they can expect a package on a regular basis from MooreMart, and they look forward to it,” he said.