By DANIELLE RUSH
As the mother of a soldier who has been deployed five times to the Middle East, Elwood Haynes Elementary teacher Debbie McDaniel wants her students to know there are heroes other than those who can throw or dribble a ball.
She also wants the children to know “it’s not just somebody else over there,” but that each person serving in Iraq and Afghanistan is somebody’s son, daughter, wife, husband, mother, father, friend or neighbor.
“They’re real people with real faces,” she said.
To help with that goal, the Elwood Haynes Elementary School student council organized a competition with another school to collect drink packets to send to the troops.
McDaniel said her son told her powdered drink mixes are a hot commodity among the troops, because their drinking water gets hot in their canteens, and the flavoring makes it taste better.
Friday, student council members helped pack the more than 3,100 packets they collected, with help from representatives of Hoosiers Helping Heroes, a non-profit organization that provides care packages to military members from Indiana, or with ties to Indiana.
Montana Speicherweimer, with Hoosiers Helping Heroes, said the drink packets will be sent in care packages, which also include items such as beef jerky, coffee, packets of tuna, chicken or salmon, cereal, snack boxes, canned fruit, candy, socks, blankets, batteries and disposable cameras.
Speicherweimer said each care package is custom packed with items the recipient’s family has indicated he or she would like to have, such as a specific brand of candy bar.
The organization currently has 28 military members it sends packages to each month and for birthdays.
Volunteer Rick Filip said they receive many notes of appreciation from the soldiers who receive the packages.
“It brings back home for that moment,” he said, adding that “it’s a huge morale boost” to know people back home care about them.
Speicherweimer said people from the Kokomo area have helped a lot by donating care package items.
“We’ve been very blessed.”
Elwood Haynes student Stephanie Bartel said she hopes when they receive the packages, the troops stationed overseas “know we haven’t forgotten about them, and that we care about what they are doing.”
“And that we thank them very much,” added Erin Leonard.
Tarkeysha Hillman thought it was good that they helped the troops, and Naomi Galloway thought it was fun “helping the people fighting for our country.”
Elwood Haynes student Krista Atkins thought the package recipients would be pleased with their collection.
“I think they’re going to be very happy with what we sent them.”
