By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



Students in one area school know what it means to give to others.

When Kaylin Smith heard about some U.S. soldiers in Iraq who were receiving no mail from home, she decided to do something about it.

It all started with a co-worker of Kaylin’s mother, Angela Smith. The co-worker’s son is a U.S. Army platoon leader in Iraq, and he sent his mother a list of 14 soldiers who never received mail from home.

Kaylin heard about that list, and wanted to do a small part to help. So she took the list to school, hoping her teacher would allow her class to “adopt” one of the soldiers.

The teacher, Rebecca Phillips, then asked permission from Mt. Olive principal Judy Sullivan.

The next thing they knew, every class at the school had adopted soldiers from the list, which included sending them care packages, writing them letters and drawing pictures.

In all, classes sent about 17 boxes and dozens of letters to soldiers in Iraq, according to Phillips.

“The amount donated exceeded what was expected by a long shot,” said Phillips. “It literally blew my mind. Every soldier was able to get every single thing on his list.”

She said the students took supplies to school over a two-week period. There were so many donations that she filled two boxes with the extra supplies and mailed them to the platoon leader so he could distribute them to those in need.

“(Kaylin) was really thrilled,” said Smith. “When she saw how big everything was getting, she was really impressed. It really touched her that they were able to get all that together.”

Smith said that she and her husband, Victor, have worked hard to instill in their children that they should help others.

Also, Victor had been in the military, so he knew what it was like for soldiers to be away from home.

“We told her all the time about what happens when guys don’t get (mail),” said Smith. “That’s just how she is. She cares about people. Kaylin just always wants to help everybody.”

“They’re fighting for our freedom, so I thought it would be good to give back,” said Kaylin. “I thought it would brighten somebody’s day and make them feel better to know that somebody cares.”

The care packages included toiletries, food, gum, flavored coffee, magazines, movies and other items.

“They want anything that would keep their morale up,” said Angela Smith. “They have no way of getting anything.”

Gardendale High School also played a role in the effort.

Phillips’ daughter, also named Rebecca Phillips, just graduated from the high school and was president of the Student Council this year.

The Student Council had money left over from a project, and voted to donate the money to have the packages shipped.

Phillips, the teacher, said the smallest package weighed 15 pounds and the largest weighed 50 pounds.

The Student Council donated more than $400 to ship the packages to Iraq.