Guest Posting By Regina Brown
In honor of Veteran’s Day and the upcoming holidays, the McGilvra Elementary School’s Student Council took on a special project -- personal care packages for Lewis-McChord soldiers who can’t come home for the holidays.
Kicking off the care-package drive at a school-wide assembly, ten students from the K-5th grade student council stood up in front of their classmates and gave a moving presentation about history, war, and what it means to be a veteran. Sergeant Morales, a local army recruiter who has spent two rotations in Iraq, talked about how much it means to the soldiers to receive these packages and messages of good wishes – especially from non-family members.
Armed with a wish list from the soldiers, the students got to work and soon the bins in the McGilvra school office were overflowing with donations including Halloween candy, Starbucks & Tully's coffee, notebooks, shower gel, and hand-warmers. In addition to the gifts, each class wrote personal cards to the soldiers.
“The student council did a fantastic job presenting the meaning of Veteran’s Day to their classmates, “ said Season Hamilton, Community Outreach Chair with the McGilvra PTA. “It was amazing to see all of the kids respond with such enthusiasm. We hope to do something like this every year.”
Forty boxes were packed up Thanksgiving weekend and shipped out to Afghanistan where they will be delivered by jeep to 118 young men and women from Joint Base Lewis-McChord. For more information on sending care packages to Washington-based soldiers serving overseas, contact Sgt. Morales at: SFC Rafael A Morales, U.S. Army Recruiter, 10706 5th Ave, Ste. D, Seattle, WA 98125 .
[Photo by Season Hamilton. Back row: Isabelle Hanson-Carlsen and Sergeant Guerzon. Front row: Drake Wright, Sophia Christothoulou, Emma Brooksbank.]
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