Stocking for Soldiers

The stu­dents at the Bucks IU at Samuel Everitt in Middletown stuffed more than 700 stock­ings to send to troops overseas. 

MIDDLETOWN — The stu­dents of the Bucks Intermediate Unit at Samuel Everitt recent­ly stuffed hol­i­day stock­ings to send to troops sta­tioned over­seas. Now in its third year, the “Stockings for Soldiers” cam­paign has grown from just a few dozen stock­ings in year one to 764 this year. 

The stu­dents, all of whom have spe­cial needs, worked with their teach­ers and sup­port staff in an assem­bly line. Each stu­dent was assigned a task that best allowed them to learn and prac­tice skills, from sort­ing donat­ed items to mak­ing hol­i­day cards to fill­ing the stock­ings. The stock­ings were stuffed with a vari­ety of items, such as snacks and can­dy, per­son­al hygiene prod­ucts, hol­i­day cards, sta­tion­ary items and books. In addi­tion to the 764 stock­ings, 16 box­es of even more good­ies and sup­plies also were pack­aged up for ship­ping out to the troops. 

The major­i­ty of the box­es are being sent to the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a group of Marines who are cur­rent­ly deployed in clas­si­fied loca­tions work­ing with ongo­ing oper­a­tions. Boxes also are sent to Marines with the 3rd Battalion in Japan, and air­men with the 380 Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron in the United Arab Emirates. 

Giant stores in Fairless Hills, Langhorne, Morrisville, Southampton and Yardley, Redner’s in Levittown, and Sam’s Club in Langhorne donat­ed goods for the effort. 

The Bucks County Intermediate Unit Education Foundation pro­vid­ed a $600 grant for the pur­chase of the stock­ings, and Fore the Troops, a non­prof­it char­i­ta­ble orga­ni­za­tion that rais­es mon­ey to sup­port phil­an­thropic orga­ni­za­tion focused on pro­grams and sup­port of mil­i­tary per­son­nel and their fam­i­lies, pro­vid­ed $2,500 to cov­er the cost of ship­ping. Let’s Bake Cookie Co. of Bensalem, Kiddie Academy in Feasterville, and the Bucks County Intermediate Unit in Doylestown served as drop-off loca­tions, and stu­dents at Samuel Everitt and the IU HOPE pro­gram in the New Hope-Solebury School District col­lect­ed the items. 

Reprinted from the Bucks County Courier Times — http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/ news/20181211/bucks-iu-students-stuff-stockings-for-deployed-soldiers