BAGHDAD, Iraq — Most think it is civilians and military family members sending care packages to deployed soldiers. At Camp Victory, it is the opposite.

Staff Sgt. Lani Yearicks, a trombone player with the 10th Mountain Division Band, spends her time off crocheting prayer shawls that are sent home to families of fallen service members and those headed home on emergency leave.

What started as a pastime in her childhood has brought her and others to spend time at the ministry at Camp Victory, crocheting shawls for those back in the United States. The group and military chaplains pray over the shawls before shipping them.

"I was talking to my mom about the prayer shawl ministry at home and decided to start one here," Sgt. Yearicks said in an interview with Army Spc. Tiffany Evans, a public affairs officer at Multinational Division-Center in Baghdad, that appeared in American Forces Press Service on Oct. 2. "As my brother says, 'These shawls are like a hug made out of yarn.' Just the thought behind them can help to cheer up a heavy heart."