NATCHEZ — Operation GRITS is gearing up for its ninth year of making sure soldiers are not forgotten during the holidays.

Pattie Jones of Vidalia said she started Operation GRITS nine years ago when she tried to order a couple of boxes to mail Christmas packages but accidentally ordered 250 boxes.

Jones decided to fill those extra boxes with items and send them to soldiers serving overseas.

Since then the project has turned in to an annual event known as Operation GRITS, which is an acronym for Gifts Raised in the South.

Jones said she encourages people to pack the boxes themselves with useful items.

“I encourage people to fill the boxes themselves,” Jones said. “That gives them more of a personal touch and then bring them back to us here at Reed Insurance, 107 Carter St., Vidalia.”

Suggested items to put in the boxes include canned fruit (pop top only), chicken, tuna, peanut butter, jelly; condiments, including Cajun seasoning, hot sauce, instant cappuccino, mayonnaise, mustard, salt, pepper; powdered drink mixes, juice boxes, snacking foods such as beef jerky, beef sticks, crackers, gum; toiletries such as deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, body wash, shampoo and more.

Items that are not allowed to be shipped include pork products, alcohol, pornographic materials, liquid hand sanitizer, aerosol cans, lithium batteries and canned vegetables.

Donations of money and or items can be dropped off at Reed Insurance in Vidalia, McDonald Collision in Natchez or the Better Half and the Whitaker Insurance location in Woodville.

On Dec. 6, Jones said Reed Insurance, 107 Carter St., Vidalia will close its doors at 5 p.m. and then reopen at 6 p.m. and the public is to come to the office and help pack the boxes to be put in the mail Dec. 7.

The boxes will be mailed to three soldiers with local connections who are stationed in Afghanistan: Shelby Case of Natchez; Nathan Boseman of Vidalia; and Grady Gibson of Arkansas whose father and grandfather live in the Miss-Lou, Jones said.

“We will address the boxes to them and then they will act like Santa Claus and pass them out,” Jones said. “There are a lot of people there with no family and these boxes give them something.”

For more information visit www.operationgrits.com or 601-807-6470.

“All donations are tax deductible,” Jones said. “This is a great way to show support from the Miss-Lou to the soldiers that we appreciate what they are doing.”