Once a Marine, always a Marine.

That’s the slogan of the Marine Corps League. It’s also a motto that John Wintersteen has lived by ever since boot camp in 1959 and serving four years in the corps.

To him, the young men and women who have been fighting overseas the past nine years are like family. The Danville man cares deeply about their welfare – even if he doesn’t know them personally.

Wintersteen didn’t know Keith Crowley. But the 18-year-old San Ramon lance corporal, killed in Iraq in 2004, inspired Wintersteen’s to find a way to ease the hardships of troops in combat zones.

Crowley’s face in a photo, displayed at his memorial vigil, moved Wintersteen to tears: “He reminded me of a kid I knew in boot camp. I felt like I had to do something.”

 “Doing something” resulted in Project Marine Care, which sends boxes of food, toiletries and other items to service men and women.

Since May 2004, Wintersteen and other members of Mt. Diablo Detachment 942 of the Marine Corps League have shipped 7,233 boxes – or 101,900 pounds of goods.

Most of the 13-pound packages have gone to Iraq and Afghanistan and to Marines and Navy Corpsman. If requested, Wintersteen’s group also sends packages to members of other military branches – to anyone anywhere in the world “in harm’s way.”

 “I have been here for about three months and it is sooo much easier to cope with this environment with the things you do,” wrote a Marine sergeant in an email to Winersteen after receiving one of the boxes.

The sergeant was writing from Camp Leatherneck, in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province. “It is very motivating to know that there are people that care about what we do here. Thank you and the Marine Corps League.”

Wintersteen, the events manager at the Veterans Memorial Building in Lafayette, wasn’t looking to launch any kind of cause.

After attending Crowley’s vigil, he heard that he could help troops by sending care packages. He thought he would send just one box to a Marine in Iraq. As with Crowley, Wintersteen didn’t know the recipient; he got the Marine’s name from a Marine Corps contract.

The experience of dropping off that package at the post office was so moving that he decided to send more. He enlisted members of the Mt. Diablo Detachment to help put together regular shipments at least once a month.

At first, he and other league members paid for the goods themselves. Once people and local businesses heard about Marine Project Care, they began donating to the cause.

People from the community, such as members of a Danville girls’ basketball team, have volunteered hours to help put the packages together.

Those operations have taken place at the Veterans Memorial Building in Lafayette and will probably move to Danville’s Veteran’s Building once it opens in the new year.

The packages typically include snacks, toiletry items, socks, DVDs and always the “three Bs,” Wintersteen said: “batteries, beef jerky and baby wipes.” The baby wipes become necessities for Marines in remote areas of Afghanistan, where they can go a month or more without access to a shower.

“We Marine moms love him very much,” said Meg Styles, a Danville woman whose son, Jesse, graduated from boot camp in July.

She pointed out that Wintersteen continued to collect items and organize volunteers over the past year as he has been undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia. “I think it speaks volumes about his commitment and passion to this project and the corps.”

Wintersteen said there was no question of letting his treatments slow him down.  The work has been rewarding on so many levels, he said, including the connections he has made through his growing Marine family.

Winterseen and Styles became close friends as her son was considering joining the Marines; he accompanied her to her son’s graduation. While there, he made an effort to reach out to new Marines who didn’t have family present.

“The bottom line of why we’re doing this: we love our kids,” Wintersteen said. “Some of the people I’ve met through this will be my family for life.”

He and other Marines understand what it’s like to be far from home, family and everything in life that was once familiar. He likes to imagine seeing the face of one of these Marines, far from home, receiving a package. He will keep Operation Marine Care running as long as there is a need.

“You start out doing something good, and you get so much back,” he said.

If you would like information on how to send boxes, email Wintersteen at steenmarine@yahoo.com. He will send a package protocol and a periodically updated list of goods that are needed. You can also send money to help pay for the shipping costs to MCL DET 942 c/o John Wintersteen, 436 Sycamore Circle; Danville, CA 94526.