The giving spirit - Students pack boxes full of goodies for soldiers serving in Iraq

BELLEFONTE -- About 50 soldiers stationed in Iraq will soon be showered with 20-pound boxes containing potato chips, cookies, chocolates and Christmas ornaments from Bellefonte Area Middle School students.

After school on Tuesday, dozens of students filled cardboard boxes to the brim with goodies that most of them donated themselves.

"I think it's a very good cause," said Kara Kyle, a Bellefonte eighth-grader who gave away her own Halloween candy, as well as drink mixes and hand-held games to help fill the boxes.

The project stems from the school's anti-bullying program. All 730 middle school students are divided into smaller groups and given activities to promote positive actions in school, Principal Karen Krisch said.

Students also are taking on projects such as making decorations for Centre Crest nursing home, answering letters to Santa Claus and collecting donations for food banks.

"We want the kids to experience that sense of giving, the 'pay it forward' kind of thinking," Krisch said, as the middle schoolers scrambled around cafeteria tables selecting items to fill the boxes. "So far, they've really embraced the idea. These kids don't have to be here today."

The students also stuffed most boxes, if not all, with disposable cameras and letters asking the soldiers receiving the boxes to take pictures and mail the cameras back. The students plan to create a slide show, the letter says.

Mike Stone, a math teacher at the middle school, told the students that he knows the soldiers will appreciate their work.

His son, Nate, is a 2001 Bellefonte graduate now stationed in Baghdad. In a recent e-mail to his father, he provided a list of soldiers who would benefit by receiving the boxes of supplies. The students also could submit suggestions, Krisch said.

The shipping costs will be paid for by donations from teachers and staff, Stone said.