Capt. Henry Sakata and his fellow National Guard troops serving in Iraq recently received some holiday cheer — 150 phone cards and 1,400 greeting cards — care of friends home in Hawai'i.

It all started when Sakata, an information specialist in the University of Hawai'i's Institutional Research Office, was shipped early this year to Iraq with the 29th Support Battalion. He was married shortly before departing for his tour of duty.

Malie Hirao, Sakata's co-worker at UH, began brainstorming ideas with other UH staffers on how to bring a little piece of home to Sakata and his fellow Hawai'i soldiers serving in Iraq.

"Initially, they really wanted athletic posters for UH sports," said Hirao, 56. So she arranged to send autographed volleyball, basketball and football posters to Iraq.

Then, in November as the holiday season was approaching, Hirao and others began thinking about how they could bring holiday cheer to Hawai'i soldiers so far from home.

"We wanted to send a statement to them that there is a group of us here at UH and in Hawai'i that cares about them," Hirao said.

Through bake sales and other fundraising efforts and the work of 100 volunteers, Hirao and her co-workers raised $1,700 to purchase and send 150 phone cards to the troops. The group also sent 1,400 angel cut-outs made from recycled Christmas cards with Christmas messages written on the back.

"Dear soldier, thank you for protecting our freedom," said one angel card.

"Just wanted to let you folks know that the people of Hawai'i appreciate everything you're doing for us (and the world)," said another.

Sakata, on behalf of the troops, sent an e-mail thanking the UH staffers for their thoughts.

"It must have been a tremendous task to collect the cards and cut out angels from them," Sakata wrote. "Everyone here was astonished. We appreciate everyone's thoughts and well-wishes during this holiday season."

Sakata also sent pictures of how the troops used the angel cards to decorate their quarters.

"It was very touching," Hirao said.

Hirao said the group hoped that the phone cards could be used by the troops to make extra phone calls during the holiday season; soldiers normally get two phone calls a week.

Hirao said she plans to keep in touch with the troops through Sakata and hopes that the gifts her co-workers sent make a difference.

"Those of us who joined hands to work on the project could only hope that the angels would provide some small measure of joy to the troops," Hirao said.

The unit is scheduled to return to Hawai'i in a few weeks.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.