Students at John Gregg Elementary are spreading a little holiday cheer by sending Christmas cards to soldiers both stateside and abroad.
Melissa Huggins, a visual impairment (VI) aide at the school, is now spearheading the annual Operation Christmas Card project started by former librarian Hannah Boggs. Huggins said she was inspired because her son, Sgt. Hunter Huggins, is a flight medic in the U.S. Army and is currently stationed in Alabama. She took over the project last year and reached out to school families seeking addresses of active members, plus more information was posted on the school’s website.
About 376 kids in grades PreK-6 are taking part and adding some personal touches by coloring the exterior of the paper cards, plus older pupils could include their own words in blank cards while preschoolers and kindergarten students signed their names in cards with pre-written messages. Huggins said it was a labor of love and she intended to ship the farthest-reaching cards after Thanksgiving and mail stateside cards in early December.
“It’s important to me,” she said. “We’ll send them to 24 different service members. Some are Edison graduates and some are not.”
Huggins said the mail will reach sites throughout the U.S. as well as Hawaii, Guam, England, Germany and beyond. Some of the handwritten thoughts expressed hopes for a Merry Christmas to gratitude for the military members’ service.
“I hope you have a wonderful holiday,” stated one.
“Stay safe. Thank you for protecting me,” noted another.
“They enjoy it,” Huggins added. “I held a contest to make it interesting and one kindergarten class made 175 cards in a week. The homeroom with the most cards gets to vote on their reward.”
She hopes to extend the project and spread the holiday spirit to residents in local nursing homes.
“Some fourth-graders asked if they could take extra cards home to share with their siblings to work on,” Huggins commented. “My goal is if we have enough for the service members, then we’ll do some cards for nursing homes.”