Boots For Troops Filling a Need for Soldiers, Planning Food Drive for Army Base

In March 2017, Kelly Schafler wrote for the Houston Chronicle that Magnolia-based Boots For Troops had “spread like wildfire” since Jimmy Rogers saw shipmates on the USS Theodore Roosevelt go without care packages. “When we received packages, I’d see this sad face on the guys that didn’t get one, so I thought, ‘We can do better,’” he told the paper.

Rogers had joined the Navy in 2011 after deciding he needed a dramatic change. While he was still deployed, he and his then-fiancé Lindsey built the nonprofit by email. They co-founded it in June 2015. By the time he came home that August, the shop was ready to ship. Two years in, they were married, working with local volunteers in Magnolia, and had sent 206 care packages to about 10 countries.

Jason Fochtman’s photographs for the story show Jimmy and Lindsey with a box: tan boots, socks, and handwritten letters. That is still the product. A name, a pair of boots, and the extras a service member asked for.