By Jessica Tuggle

jtuggle@hometownnewsol.com

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY - It may only be a scrap of tattered fabric to some, but the five-pointed stars on U.S. flags have a different meaning for Juanita Barnhart.

Ms. Barnhart has spent the past year neatly cutting out stars from old American flags with friends to send a special message to troops overseas: they are not forgotten.

"My son-in-law was in Iraq and some organization in The Villages sent him a package and in it was a star from the flag with a message," said Ms. Barnhart.

The inspirational message asks the soldier to carry the star, which is taken from old flags, and to remember that they are not alone or forgotten while deployed. (See graphic for complete message.)

"He was so enthused with it, he asked me to make some more to give to people. So I went and got some flags and started cutting," she said.

Winnie Scalley, Ms. Barnhart's sister, is in charge of gathering the flags for the project.

"I get the flags from the American Legion Post 39, from their repository of flags that need to be properly burned," said Ms. Scalley.

"I think it lets (the soldiers) know how grateful we are for what they are doing. They're risking their lives over there and it makes me proud to be an American," she said.

Ms. Barnhart gives the stars to various organizations locally and out of state to send to military overseas and based around the country, including Military Moms of Vero Beach and the Italian American Civic Association.

The Italian American club sends 20 to 30 boxes full of cookies to the troops every month and are glad to have the stars in their packages, said Cindy Foley, a club member.

"We fill up those boxes as much as we can and we get many e-mails from soldiers telling us thank you," said Ms. Foley.

"They do feel like we care when they get letters and packages. We've gotten two flags that have flown over barracks and a picture of Gen. Petraeus from over there that we are putting on display," she said.

The cookies that are sent are a mixture of homemade and store-bought cookies, though the soldiers "love the homemade ones because they have stores where they can get other cookies," said Ms. Foley.

The best types of cookies to send are those without chocolate ingredients, as tasty as they may be, Ms. Foley said.

"We encourage people to make oatmeal, oatmeal raisin cookies or other cookies that don't have chocolate in them because it's so hot over there it melts," she explained.

Club member Rose Tufano started the project a year ago and has built up the list of soldier addresses close to 40, covering men and women stationed in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Donations of cookies or funds from the community to pay for shipping are always welcome, as is help in packing the boxes, Ms. Foley said.

The next time the group will assemble to pack cookies and stars will be Nov. 12 at 10:30 a.m., said Ms. Foley.

The idea is to have the boxes sent to the troops to arrive in plenty of time for Christmas, she explained.

"We really want the Christmas cookies to get there in time, so we encourage people to get involved with us," said Ms. Foley.

The Italian American Civic Association is located at 1600 25th St., Vero Beach.