DEAR SOLDIER; LOVE, MARY; LETTER-WRITTING EFFORTS EARN TOP AWARD FOR YOUTH, CLUB

USS Sally Ride Sci-fi fan club members write cards and letters to U.S. servicemen overseas when they meet each month.

Through numerous letters and bundles of Christmas cards, 14-year-old Mary Hampton has bravely gone where very few of her classmates and peers have gone before -- to the mailboxes of U.S. soldiers stationed both here and abroad.

As a member of the U.S.S. Sally Ride, a science fiction media fan club in Southeast Missouri, Mary has joined in national efforts to raise the morale of American troops through the Mail for Our Military campaign.

For seven years, members of the U.S.S. Sally Ride have purchased Christmas cards and written letters, then bundled them together and sent them to Friends of Our Troops, a non-profit organization in Soldier, Kentucky.

Once they arrive in Kentucky, the cards are separated into packages of varying sizes and mailed, along with letters from other parts of the country, to more than 1,000 bases, units and hospitals across the United States and throughout the world.

Last year alone, 551 pieces of mail were sent to American troops by members of the U.S.S. Sally Ride, making the club the number one group participant in the state of Missouri. It is the third time since 1993 that the group has received such a distinction.

In addition to the group recognition, Mary Hampton, a freshman at Central Junior High in Cape Girardeau, was the number one individual contributor in the entire state, having mailed more than 300 cards and letters.

Hampton and her mother, Jean, also a member of the group and a past participant in the mail campaign, have received return letters of appreciation from around the globe, including newly enlisted troops undergoing basic training in a California boot camp and soldiers stationed in Saudi Arabia. An entire platoon from Germany signed a card and sent it to the Hamptons.

One letter was sent to Mary Hampton a chaplain's assistant based in Tuzla, Bosnia. The soldier, Staff Sergeant Rondal Lang, recognized Hampton's address. Lang's father was born and raised in Old Appleton, and his uncle, Byron Lang, owns a trucking business in Jackson.

Even though she received only five responses to the 300-plus cards she sent out last year, she plans to send out even more for this Christmas season.

"My goal is 500," she said.

The club provides some of the cards that members send. If, however, members wish to send more, they must purchase the cards on their own. The Hamptons buy Christmas cards in bulk boxes of a hundred or more for the project.

Although the project is an important part of the club's work, members of the U.S.S. Sally Ride have not limited their service activities to the Mail for Our Military campaign. Since its founding in 1987, the group has been involved in Red Cross blood drives, the Adopt-a-Highway program, MDA bowlathons, and collecting money for FISH Volunteers of Cape Girardeau.

One of their biggest service projects revolves around Continuum, a science fiction media convention held in Cape Girardeau every two years. A charity auction is held at every Continuum, with the profits going to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. This year's Continuum, held at the Holiday Inn Convention Center July 25-27, raised over $2,000 for the hospital.

To the casual observer, U.S.S. Sally Ride's dedication to service projects and charitable work might seem out of keeping with the group's science fiction roots.

But, according to community service chairman Hank Sessoms, there is a close connection between their interest in science fiction television programs, such as "Star Trek," and their community service work.

"The idea behind 'Star Trek' was trying to make things better, trying to make the world better, trying to work together for the common good," Sessoms said.

Janie McGaugh agrees. McGaugh, president of Continuum and one of the founding members of U.S.S. Sally Ride, sees 'Star Trek' as being based on the belief in helping other people as a way of bettering the world. "Summoning the future," she calls it.

Only the passage of time will determine if the future they summon will be better. But present moments, especially the holidays for American soldiers, have been made brighter by efforts of the U.S.S. Sally Ride.