Operation School Supply
I don’t know if Mike’s Company had a specific name for this project, but I have titled it “Operation School Supply.” Creative and witty, I know!
I finally got some pictures of how the school supply delivery went, and it has been wonderful looking through them all. I wanted to share them here since so many of you followed the progress of the project. I also wanted to put something up on the blog in order to thank everyone involved — especially the Mead Corporation.
For those of you who were not around on Knee Deep back in November/December of last year we worked hard to get 600+ pounds of donated school supplies to the children in the Diyala Province. The donation was the result of Mike’s request and an email I sent to a friend at the Mead Corporation. Mead donated 600 pounds of school supplies, and friends and church members donated more on top of that. Then two people who read this blog (thank you so much P and S!), and my Church donated postage and reimbursement for postage to make it more affordable for me to do the shipping. It was a huge blessing as the shipping costs totaled over $500.
When Mike was home on leave this past November he led the JROTC program at Nate’s school in a project to break the supplies down, repackage them and prepare them for shipment. It took days on end of making regular trips to the post office to get it all shipped after they packaged, sealed, labeled and filled out customs forms for it, but we did it! We were definitely not the only people who stepped forward to donate. The soccer balls were a donation through a DJ a soldier met on a flight, friends, family, community members and churches in the US gathered supplies and shipped them to our Stryker Soldiers (Infantry) who are currently serving in the War on Terror in the Diyala Province.
The call was put out and the resounding answer was one that echoes support of our troops and their mission.
Enjoy the montage (tip: if the montage starts breaking up a little, just pause it for a moment while it queues.)
Ohhhh, Miz Claire, That was most AWESOME! Just so heart warming to see the children who received much needed supplies from our finest. You and the whole Hooah! family are amazing….
Hugs to all!
Crumbs - I love it!
I thought this was a great idea to begin with and am so delighted to see the results. The pictures…I can’t pick a favorite, really. Bright eyed kids with books and balls, smiling Soldiers, the JROTC… Watched it twice and am going to link to it as well.
Superb….
Claire
Thanks for sharing! Who said that our time, money and efforts are a total waste there. Look at the contained excitement in those kids and they way they look up to our Soldiers. Sometimes I think the kids can teach us lots.
One of the really great things is how our average citizens and our corporations are stepping up to provide the humanitarian aid.
Thanks Claire, Thanks Mike and thanks to your Stryker Unit!! HOOAH
Oh Claire! Just wonderful, so proud of Mike and the Stryker guys and the JROTC and everyone who helped. Awesome.
That was so touching. If only they showed this stuff on the nightly news. Thanks for sharing this with all of us. It made my night.
Thanks for sharing the pictures with us. So glad to be able to help out. It wasn’t much, but every little bit helps.
Claire,
Beautiful work! God Bless the JROTC students, everyone who donated and especially the Stryker Soldiers who truly are “Angels!”
Thank you so much for sharing that with us.
Thank you all for the kind words and words of encouragement. It was a daunting task some days since I shipped boxes from the last few days in November through out the Christmas season. People in town hated to see me coming to the post office with 40 boxes in tow and the line already out the door. The staff at the PO were awesome though! I should have thanked them on the slide show. I did take them a snack (always take good care of your postal workers!) a couple of times. I will have to figure out how to take them some pictures so they can see the end result of the endless hours of processing boxes and customs forms.
I would do it all again in a heartbeat, and I hope I get the opportunity to send more stuff soon.
Thank you for sharing. Really nice montage of images.
What a special project. I sent about 20 boxes over for my friend to pass out to soldiers he knew were not getting anything. I totally remember the look on the post office patrons faces as my mom and I came in with them all. :)
I agree with Kristen. If only they showed more of that on the nightly news.
Jade, that is so kind. I just love to hear about people supporting the soldiers over there who are not getting mail. It seriously breaks my heart to think of any soldier not getting a little something from home once in a while. I know they look forward to those packages and letters! 20 boxes is a lot! If you ever have to do it again or have a larger shipment… take a small tin of goodies to the post office for the workers! It butters them up and keeps it running smoothly. :)
That is a great idea. I did put a thank you in our towns local newspaper for the post office as well as thanking some others who helped donate to the project (write letters buy snacks etc.)
Buttering them up with goodies will be my next thank you to them. :)