Primary school pupils send treats to troops
BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer

Children at the New Egypt Primary School in Plumsted participated in a program called Treats for Troops and ended up sending many items to American servicemen and servicewomen who are presently serving overseas.

PLUMSTED — Youngsters at the New Egypt Primary School are learning about gratitude through a program called Treats for Troops.

The program was organized by guidance counselor Heather Smith and involved all of the children at the school. It was designed to re-enforce a lesson that was taught by Smith.

Once a month, Smith went into each class and taught the students about a different virtue. The virtue for November was gratitude, and Smith chose Treats for Troops to show gratitude to soldiers who are serving the United States.

"I was overwhelmed by the response of our school community," Smith said. "After my lesson on gratitude, the children were very excited to participate in our Treats for Troops drive. They took great pride in knowing that they helped our soldiers overseas."

Treats for Troops is a program the guidance department at the New Egypt Primary School runs in all of the prekindergarten, kindergarten and first-grade classes. The pupils were taught about gratitude and then collected all sorts of treats to send to American soldiers.

Throughout November, the pupils collected items from the school staff and from people in the community. Among the items they collected were eye drops, baby wipes, tissues, sunscreen, candy, cookies, drink mixes, portable compact disc players, compact discs and much more.

At the end of the month, 187 pounds of treats were sent to Senior Airman Robert L. Woodford II, who is in his second tour of duty in Iraq. Woodford, a resident of New Jersey, was planning to play Santa at the base where he is stationed by distributing the treats that were sent by the Plumsted pupils.