BRITT, Iowa (AP) – A northern Iowa veteran group is assembling care packages for sailors on the USS Fitzgerald, which collided with a merchant vessel off the coast of Japan on June 17, killing seven U.S. sailors. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports that nine members of the Dean Welsh Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary of Britt are working on the project.

Jean Perkins is the chairman of the care packages drive. The drive was inspired by Perkin’s 27-year-old granddaughter, Brianna Downer, who is serving in the Navy. Downer asked Perkins last week if the group could do anything for the sailors. The group sent about 50 care packages to Downer’s crew in 2012.

The care packages will include toiletries, books, magazines, socks, T-shirts, snacks, hard candy and non-perishable items.