SAN ANTONIO • What began as a personal desire to find a support system when her son was deployed to Afghanistan has become a passionate mission of service and support to all military and their families for Chris Peche-Schulz.

    Peche-Schulz traveled to Lubbock in June 2002 to attend a gathering of “Mothers of the Military” (MOM) there. She had met these other mothers on the Internet while her son, Mark Schulz, was deployed in Afghanistan. Her trip was covered in a December 2002 issue of the Today’s Catholic newspaper and Peche-Schulz sent copies of that article to pastors of Northwest San Antonio Catholic churches in an attempt to recruit members for a group in San Antonio.

    “I sent copies of the article to about eight or nine churches in Northwest San Antonio because that is the area of the city in which I live. Most of the church pastors allowed me to set up a table with information so that, after they made the announcement, I could be there to give information and get names of those interested. My goal was to find parents who had children serving in any branch of the military, either stateside or deployed,” Peche-Schulz recalls.

    “By mid-February, we had two meetings with close to 20 people combined from both gatherings,” said Peche-Schulz. “Within the first day or two of the war my very first member, Lois Alva, informed me that her son, Staff Sergeant Eric Alva, United States Marine Corps had been severely wounded. She and her husband were not given many details and were waiting to hear from the Marines about his condition. SSG Alva was flown to Germany where the medical team amputated his leg because he had stepped on a landmine. It was an eye opener for all of us, but we prayed for him, Lois and the entire family,” Peche-Schulz said. “His recuperation took a good three plus months with more than a dozen surgeries,” she added.

    In late November 2004, the MOM group founded in January 2003 transitioned into the San Antonio Chapter 4 of Blue Star Mothers of America, Inc. “As a Blue Star group we are a nonprofit charitable organization. The most important duty we have is that we honor the families of our fallen soldiers with a Gold Star presentation, usually the night before the funeral, but on a couple of occasions we have done so at the cemetery,” she explained.

    According to Peche-Schulz, there are between 40-45 members in the group and about five of them are fathers. The group has members from Austin and a married couple from Kerrville, whose son just returned from Iraq, comes to each of the meetings. “We have monthly meetings, usually the second Sunday of the month,” Peche-Schulz said. The group has had a variety of guest speakers at their monthly meetings, from Major General (retired) Alfred Valenzuela to a relaxation therapist who helped with the stress at the height of the war.

    “We have less than a handful of mothers at this point who have kids deployed, but the reason we get together is not merely to support our own when they are deployed, but to support all our sons and daughters,” said Peche-Schulz.

    The group spends much of its time in service of the troops and their families. They held their “Con Cariño” care package drive the first three weeks of last November. “We mailed over 60 packages to Afghanistan and Iraq, some also to Romania and Egypt. We sent them to specific service personnel that included names provided to our group, in addition to our own family members,” Peche-Schulz said.

    The group held their third annual Christmas vigil to honor fallen military on Dec. 23 at 6:30 a.m. in front of the Alamo. “It also went very well,” said Peche-Schulz. “Five ‘Gold Star families’ attended, as well as representatives from each branch of the military, officers and enlisted. Our goal was to honor soldiers who’ve given their lives and their families by reading their names aloud. The representatives from each branch read the names and we had speakers interspersed throughout the reading of names,” recounted Peche-Schulz.

    After serving as the founder and president of the San Antonio chapter of Blue Star Mothers for four years, Peche-Schulz is passing the leadership role to president-elect Emma Bedoy-Pina. Peche-Schulz will continue to serve as the group’s ‘Blue-to Gold liaison.’ “If we have a fallen in the area, I will contact the casualty officer to let him/her know we are ready to honor the family. We honor the family with a Gold Star banner and framed poem,” said Peche-Schulz. “I am most proud that we have honored the families of fallen soldiers,” she continued. “I’m also proud of mentoring some other chapters. Chapter 7, Blue Star Mothers of Canyon Lake, formed just two weeks ago and another support group in Floresville is forming,” she added.

    San Antonio’s Blue Star Mothers will continue to meet at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, located at 6914 Wurzbach Road, usually on the second Sunday of the month at 1:30 p.m. For more information, contact Emma Bedoy-Pina at (210) 909-7474 or e-mail samombluestars@hotmail.com.