'Neck coolies' to help soldiers beat heat
Tubes to be sent to Ky. guardsmen

By Melissa Gagliardi
mgagliardi@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

You could say it's one cool project.

Since November, dozens of people have been making "neck coolies" to keep soldiers in Iraq cool in the heat of the Middle East.

The coolies are fabric tubes filled with special beads that absorb water and can be used again and again. The fabric is "digital Army camouflage" -- the same material that is used for soldiers' uniforms.

The project is the brainchild of Terri Sierra of Crestwood, whose ex-husband and son are serving together in Iraq.

The plan is to make 500 of the coolies to send to the Kentucky National Guard 149th Infantry Division. Sierra's ex-husband, John Luttrell, is their battalion commander, and their son, Justin Luttrell, is a member of the division.

Since starting the project, Sierra has enlisted the help of co-workers at UPS, friends and family, including her 8-year-old daughter, Camryn Sierra.

"She helps a lot. We do this several times a week. My dining room is coolie central," Sierra said. "Everybody's pitching in. It's totally a community effort."

Recently, she had the help of a 4-H sewing class from Ascension School in Louisville. About 16 people gathered in a classroom at Crestwood Baptist Church, where an arsenal of sewing machines whirred.

Morgan Beam, 10, used a zigzag stitch to close the fabric tubes. She has been sewing since her grandmother taught her at age 7, and was glad to use her skills to help the soldiers.

"They've done a lot of things for us so I think we should do this for them. It shows our appreciation," said Morgan, a fifth-grader at Ascension.

Meanwhile, Kaitlin Baker, 10, used a drumstick to turn the tubes right-side-out. She said working on the coolies was "fun."

"It's teaching us a lesson about sewing and we're doing something for the people in Iraq," the fifth-grader said.

Ashley Logsdon, 11, said she was happy to pitch in and help. It was her way of remembering the father of a friend who died in Iraq. Her role on the assembly line was pouring in the gel beads after the tubes were sewn.

"It takes a lot of people to make these things," said Ashley, who is in the sixth grade.

Karen Martin, a 4-H agent in Jefferson County, teaches sewing to the group. She helped the children with the project by serving as a troubleshooter whenever their machines jammed or they ran out of thread.

"I'm so impressed with these kids," she said. "It's an amazing community service project. They're really quite proud of it and you can really tell."

The 500 coolies should be completed and ready to be mailed to Iraq in about a month.

Jamie Hartlage of Buckner helped out by pinning the folded fabric and ironing it to keep it from twisting out of shape.

She said she had been considering ways she could get involved to help the soldiers serving in Iraq and was happy to have the opportunity to give her time to the project.

"I think everyone should do something for our soldiers and I thought this was a cool project. We just can't forget about them over there," she said.

Reporter Melissa Gagliardi can be reached at (502) 582-4117.