Published: Wednesday, Dec. 07, 2011 / Updated: Wednesday, Dec. 07, 2011 05:36 PM
A special gift to a soldier from a very special sister
The other day I had the opportunity to visit Indian Land Middle School to talk to Brittany Howell, a seventh-grade teacher, in regards to collecting items for our troops.
Howell’s brother is a pilot in the Air Force stationed in a remote area of Afghanistan, and she thought that his entire squadron could use a little cheer this holiday season. Howell is very close to her brother. They both graduated from Wingate College, as did their parents. He loves being a pilot and his sister is so very proud of him. You can see that from the sparkle in her eyes and her emotion when she talks about him.
The conditions in that remote area where he is serving are not the best. The weather is cold. It was 20 degrees on Thanksgiving Day. They have no scheduled hours when they are needed, they just have to go to work no matter what time of the night or day. Meals have no set time, but are eaten whenever they can they grab something.
His family talked to him on Thanksgiving Day. He missed that home-cooked meal and will be on duty Christmas Day and working there in February when his second child is due to be born. Despite all these hardships and loneliness, he loves what he does and does it with dedication to our country.
Howell and her helpers, with a lot of help from the students at Indian Land Middle School, have been collecting items for the past few weeks. On Dec. 9 they will pack all these items in individual boxes for shipment to the troops in that remote area. The sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students have collected things like hard candy, foot- and hand warmers, hot chocolate and toothpaste, and they also collected money to mail the packages. Howell is very excited about the response that has been shown for this project, and you certainly can see how everyone has caught the spirit of giving.
Every time I visit Indian Land Middle School, I am invigorated by the sharing, caring, consideration and respect that this school transfers to everyone around, including teachers and staff.
Robert Lewis Stevenson wrote, “Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.”