With these funds my students and I will be purchasing supplies to send to our troops overseas as a part of Operation Gratitude. At YES, our students are taught to live by the core values of Tenacity, Integrity, Trust, Action, Nexus, and Social Justice. We teach them to give back when they can even if it is just through their time. Once a 6 weeks the school comes together for "service day"; where we either go out into our community (cleaning up the streets, planting gardens, helping the homeless, etc.) or stay at the school and make lunches for the homeless, write letters to our veterans, or do service projects around the campus. This last service day of the school year I want to teach my students that we have to not only remember those that have fought for our freedom, but to those that are still fighting daily so we can live the lives that we do. With the help of my husband, a retired Army Sargent, we have complied a list of items we would like to purchase from a dollar store. The list is below:

1. Toothbrushes

2. Toothpaste

3. Deodorant

4. Disposable Razors

5. Baby Powder

6. Hand/Foot Warmers

7. Q-tips

8. Facial Tissue

9. Lip Balm

10. Wipes

11. Mini First-Aid Kits 

We will also be writing them hand-written notes for each package so that the soldiers know we are thinking of them and can be encouraged by our words of generosity.

Please consider donating to my amazing service group so we can pack these packages and help show our troops that we care about them, appreciate them, and are wishing them home soon.

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