An Army soldier from Denver, N.C., is deployed in remote Afghanistan. He and 16 comrades need sheets, blankets and thick socks. The call goes out to volunteers at the USO of North Carolina, who gather more blankets, sheets and socks than 17 young Americans could ever use.

Each week, troops get stranded at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport. The USO center there finds a way to get them back to their posts.

And for thousands of troops and their families - 407,000 last year - its six centers are a temporary home, like the Charlotte center was for Marine Pfc. Michael Kieloch on Tuesday.

In those ways and many more, the USO (United Service Organizations) of North Carolina has been looking after the needs of troops and their families for 70 years.

"I've been through this center four or five times, and these people are amazing at what they do," Kieloch said, relaxing in a cushy leather chair Tuesday watching a basketball game on a large flat-screen TV. He was on his way to his real home in Boston for Thanksgiving.

The nonprofit is no longer just a center for R&R, or organizer of troop shows delivered by the famous.

"This is the new 21st-century USO," said the nonprofit's president John Falkenbury. "Our centers are more focused on delivering services to the troops. During homecomings. Deployments ... We serve as a resource for service members experiencing a variety of problems."

Now, with Thanksgiving kicking off the holiday season, the USO-N.C. needs help.

Starting this week, into January, the centers at Charlotte/Douglas and Raleigh-Durham airports will bulge with troops on their way home, or returning to their bases.

Those centers draw about 13,000 troops a month for much of the year. Yet during the holidays, that number will mushroom to about 20,000 a month for November, December and January.

On Dec. 17, during "Operation Exodus," 2,000 troops from Fort Jackson will pass through the Charlotte/Douglas center on their way home from boot camp.

It's expensive to keep them fed and cared for.

"Dec. 17 is our big day, but the need is now," said Megan Grady, the Charlotte center's director.

The organization needs cash or grocery-store gift card donations, gas cards, bottled water, soft drinks and sandwich items. It also needs a new donated van, or leased van, for each of the six centers to replace its aging "hodgepodge" fleet of vehicles.

"Our goal is to find a car dealer with a statewide presence willing to donate the vans," Falkenbury said.

Been around since 1941

The USO has been helping or entertaining troops since 1941, when President Franklin Roosevelt made a request for civilian support of the military.

In November that year, the USO opened its first center in Fayetteville, near Fort Bragg. After World War II, the organization was dissolved and its center closed.

Except for the one in Jacksonville, near Camp Lejeune. It is now the longest continuously operating USO facility in the world.

With 12 percent of the active U.S. military force based in North Carolina, the USO-N.C., established in 1987, decided it needed to expand its services, opening centers near North Carolina bases and at its two busiest airports. The RDU center opened in 2004, the one at Charlotte/Douglas two years later. A new center was recently opened at the Fayetteville airport.

It is looking at opening satellite centers on college campuses, with the return of so many troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The life experiences of those young veterans on the GI bill are so much different from their 18-year-old colleagues," Falkenbury said. "A lot of those went through multiple deployments. There's a higher suicide rate. Depression. Anxiety. They need help."

It has trained a team of volunteers that makes sure the return of fallen troops is done by the book - with dignity.

Volunteers make it happen

The Charlotte/Douglas center had a full house Tuesday, with troops like Army National Guard Spc. Matthew McKnight passing through on his way home to Columbia and a horde of young buzz-cut recruits on their way to basic training.

They watched TV. Or played video games. They checked email or had a bite to eat before boarding flights. There were sweet buns, sandwiches, hot dogs, coffee, soft drinks and tubs of candy - all donated.

"I come in here and there are so many nice people working so hard to make us comfortable," McKnight said. "For them to go out of their way to provide something like this is really moving."

The heart of USO-N.C. is its 700 volunteers - 200 of them running the Charlotte/Douglas center 365 days a year.

Among them are members of St. Gabriel Catholic Church, which is providing a Thanksgiving meal for those who come through Thursday.

Then there's BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association).

Each year, the week before "Operation Exodus," they bake cookies, cakes, muffins, banana bread and pies to serve the crush of boot campers.

They urge their tenants and co-workers to bake, too.

Last year, it took the trunks and back seats of three cars to deliver all the goods, said BOMA member Robin Turner.

"It's very gratifying to be a part of Exodus," Turner said. "It broadens my view of what the holidays really mean when I'm able to make connections with these young men and women and realize the sacrifices they're making.

"I understand there's a reason why my family is safe and cozy in my SouthPark home. These folks are a part of that."

WANT TO HELP?

If you want to donate money, gas and grocery gift cards, food, bottled water, soft drinks, sandwich materials, vans or anything else that could ease the journey of troops, contact the USO of North Carolina at 919-840-3000, email state.office@uso-nc.org or donate at www.uso-nc.org/. Or you can call the USO center at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport at 704-359-5581, or send checks or gift cards to USO/Charlotte Center, 5501 Josh Birmingham Parkway, PO Box 21, Charlotte NC 28208.