This holiday season, the Ocean City Primary School has been collecting donations to send to troops overseas in honor of a kindergarten student whose father will be overseas in Afghanistan during the holidays.
Primary School teacher Jennifer DeVlieger and her class are leading the way to spreading cheer.
The school has collected donations of treats such as nuts, trail mix, granola bars, beef jerky, Pringles, Pop Tarts, pretzels and other packaged snacks to send overseas to the troops. In addition to the treats, Ocean City Primary School students made cards for troops to include in each package.
This project was inspired by a kindergarten student whose father is in the Marine Corps. He will be in Afghanistan and may not be returning to Ocean City until August.
The treats and cards will be sent to the Marine and his company to show support for troops and the families, home waiting for them to return safely.
With the help of staff and community members, Ocean City Primary School Principal Cathleen Smith and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kathleen Taylor have been able to organize the collection of travel-safe snacks to send to Afghanistan.
An overwhelming response from the Ocean City School District community led to a total of 21 boxes of goods to be donated.
The Ocean City Police Benevolent Association also donated funds to help cover the shipping costs of the boxes and letters.
“When we found out that a student’s father would be deployed during the holidays, we could not imagine the emotional impact this would have on her and her family and wanted to find a way to help. Although we cannot bring this soldier home, we can send some pieces of home to him and his company,” Dr. Taylor said.
She continued, “Our goal with this project is not only to boost the morale of our troops overseas, but to show our students with deployed family members that they have a support system within our school district. We are so grateful to the community and to the Ocean City Police Benevolent Association for their efforts in getting these items to the troops in Afghanistan.”
(Press release by JASM Consulting)
