About a month ago, I shared with my 4th grade class that our local Joint Forces Training Base deployed 900 California Army National Guard soldiers overseas and my students decided to write them thank-you letters.
The students also learned that soldiers needed gummy bears, toothbrushes and toothpaste as they are being sent to a place where there is no store, no restaurants, and very little personal supplies.
The class decided to try and make treat bags for as many soldiers as they could. We discussed how to raise the money to do this and it was agreed that the students had to earn the money for whatever they wanted to send. Nothing had been set in stone but it was decided to put a pay-it-forward plan together in the next few days.
That same night, one of my students went home and had a lemonade stand. He earned enough money to buy two bags of gummy bears and brought them in the next day. It brought tears to my eyes to think that a 10-year old took the initiative to do something so kind for someone he will never meet. The next day, more students earned money to buy treats for the troops and thus began the letter writing/care package campaign. I shared the story with one of the soldiers from our base, who is also a Los Angeles County firefighter, and the story spread like a wildfire among department. More and more people began to hear the story of the “kid who started the lemonade stand for the soldiers” and they wanted to do something to help out our campaign.
Word began to spread about what our class was doing and the whole school ended up wanting to participate. Each class has been writing letters and gathering donations to reach the goal of 900 letters and 900 bags for local soldiers. The whole process has been overwhelming as we have had many groups call and offer to donate to the campaign.
Recently, the JFTB sent some of their soldiers to pick up the letters and donations. The Los Angeles County Fire Department also sent a fire truck to take items to their museum as we have received so many donations and needed a central location to take our treats. They will be packed up and sent on Jan. 9 and we will have many students and community members making up the boxes to ship.
There are so many other small moments to add to this story but it truly has been amazing to watch this whole idea unfold. It has become bigger than I ever imagined and it has reassured me that the youth of our community understand that no matter how much you have or don’t have, you always have something to give to others.
