Middle school students send packages of love to soldiers
An annual tradition at Butler Middle School hit new highs Friday due to a team of students who love soldiers.
For the fifth year in a row, fifth- and sixth-grade students packed boxes full of snacks and loaded them into a big truck outside their school. The truck headed straight to the post office, where the boxes began their long journey to a group of military personnel stationed in southwest Asia.
Students do the work on shipping day, but several groups come together to make it all happen. The idea came from Kara Hovancik, a sixth-grade science and math teacher at the middle school — and from her, the helping hands seemed to spiral through the community.
Her husband, Justin, is a member of Pittsburgh's 911th Airlift Wing. Several members arrived Friday morning to help build boxes and load the truck.
American Legion Post 117 gave $4,000 for shipping, and district employees raised another $1,085. Much of the food was donated from various individuals and community groups.
“My whole goal is to make sure the kids are well-rounded,” Hovancik said. “We focus on academics, but I think it's important to show the kids why it's important to give back to their community and world.”
This year, a new source of funding for the school project stepped up to help.
Kendall Zinkhann, a 12-year-old sixth-grader, came back from a trip to the VFW with $700 to buy food for the boxes.Her class recently made cards for veterans, she said. She brought one to her grandfather, Len Vogel, that mentioned the food drive. He loved it, she said.“He was really happy,” Kendall said.He suggested that she go around collecting money, and she returned to her teachers with enough to fill several more boxes than in past years.Hovancik said Friday's effort topped previous years. Last year, the school filled nearly 200 boxes. This year, they reached that amount early, and had to send people to the post office to retrieve another batch of boxes.This year, they sent 328 boxes.Sons of the American Legion Post 117 agreed to chip in money to cover the extra shipping costs. They'll provide at least another $1,500, according to Hovancik.
Several classrooms appeared chaotic Friday morning as students filled boxes and taped them shut. Emily Cornish, the student body president, navigated the scene with her friend, Ayla Werner, another student council member. Both girls are 12 years old and in sixth grade.“I want the soldiers to know we support them,” Ayla said. “I hope they love all the food.”Cornish said she hopes their work inspires people in the community to join service projects.“This is all a big, gigantic 'Thank you,'” Emily said.All of the school's 42 home rooms got in on the project, according to sixth-grade Principal Jason Huffman.Huffman said he has seen students in his building buy in to the project. At this rate, they don't have much of a choice but to continue it each year.Tech. Sgt. Randy Levander, of the 911th Airlift Wing, said the efforts are meaningful to their eventual recipients.“It's great to see them coming together and doing something bigger than themselves, and even bigger than their community,” Levander said.
