Flossmoor neighbors are collecting hygiene necessities to send to a community native and other sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln amid reports of poor conditions during its record-breaking long deployment.
Flossmoor resident Margaret Epperson is arranging the collection for 23-year-old Terry Stonitsch, who grew up in the south suburbs, and his fellow sailors.
“Terry grew up around the corner from our family, so we did many gatherings during the summer,” said Epperson. “He was always an energetic, kind, determined, squirrelly kid. And then he decided to follow in his mother’s footsteps and join the Navy right out of high school.”
Stonitsch lived in Flossmoor for about 10 years, and attended Western Avenue Elementary School and Parker Junior High in Flossmoor, his mother, Sara Munguia, said. They moved to Palos Heights, where he attended Alan B. Shepard High School and was on the school’s co-ed cheer team before graduating in 2021.
“Like many things in life, until it hits you personally sometimes people don’t act on things,” Epperson said. “But now that they see, ‘Oh my gosh, this is little Terry, from growing up here. He’s on that boat? Let’s figure things out for him.'”
Epperson said that seeing the Flossmoor community come together in the wake of last week’s tornado inspired her to take up the collection.
“I think it’s over 240 days now, where they haven’t gone into any port,” Epperson said. “I thought, you know what? Here’s these soldiers in the middle of the ocean, that feel abandoned. Why don’t we just rally together again for Terry and the people on the boat?”
Epperson posted a list of items she was collecting to a Homewood-Flossmoor community group that included feminine products, body wash, toothpaste, shampoo and lotion. She also suggested people write encouraging notes for sailors aboard the ship.
“I don’t think, like, tampons and toiletries are luxuries. They’re necessities that support people’s mental and physical health, which is probably even more exaggerated when you’re stuck on a boat,” said Epperson, who works in mental health services. “I think the average American takes toiletries and feminine products for granted.”
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Epperson said that since putting the call out, she’s had donations show up on her porch on Douglas Avenue in Flossmoor every day. She said she was planning on shipping everything out this weekend.
“I have people physically dropping stuff off, and I have Amazon boxes showing up,” Epperson said. “Terry’s our hometown grown sailor.”
Munguia said that both she and Stonitsch’s father were Navy veterans. Her son’s job aboard the ship is aviation ordinance, she said.
“If nobody has never been out to sea, they don’t know what it’s like sitting on a ship 24/7, for as long as they are out there and not touching their foot on land,” Munguia said. “I deployed for 90 days, that’s the longest I’ve been out to sea, and I remember how it made me feel where I was just, oh my God, I got to get off this ship.”
Munguia said she has no idea when her son will return home. He’s spent the majority of his last five years at sea, she said.
“They have deployed on the Lincoln for the last four years, like, back to back to back, so this is my son’s third deployment,” Munguia said. “I would just say that once that ship is back into port in San Diego, then it’s over.”
President Donald Trump recently downplayed the toll on sailors aboard the ship, saying that the over 260-day deployment was “not nearly long enough,” according to the Associated Press.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth was among a dozen senators who signed a letter Saturday to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth demanding answers regarding the situation aboard the ship, expressing alarm about “mounting evidence that conditions aboard the carrier have deteriorated to the point that the safety and well-being of its crew could be compromised.”
“Our sailors and Marines signed up to serve and to be treated with respect,” the letter read. “They did not sign up to be kept at sea indefinitely with no announced return date and, by multiple accounts, without reliable food, hot water, or working plumbing.”
Gov. JB Pritzker also sent a letter to Hegseth Tuesday, criticizing the administration’s lack of transparency regarding the ship’s situation and calling the deployment “unprecedented, unwarranted, and grueling.”
Pritzker asked how many Illinoisans are aboard the ship, which has a crew of about 5,000.
“The USS Abraham Lincoln deployed from San Diego in November with an expected return in May. That mission has been repeatedly extended as the conflict continued without clear cause or justification,” Pritzker’s letter said. “The brave service members aboard the Lincoln continue to fulfill their duties under unthinkable circumstances — but that does not excuse this severe breach of responsibility and lack of accountability.”
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