ATLANTA—Students and families from Immaculate Heart of Mary School recently came together to prepare care packages for military service members stationed abroad.

Students in kindergarten through eighth grade gathered items such as dried goods, toiletries, books, puzzles and movies for personalized packages to be sent to men and women serving overseas. The Military Care Package Project, started by the IHM Spiritual Life Committee, is now in its fifth year. On Wednesday, Feb. 28, families met in the school cafeteria to construct boxes for distribution.

Tiina Campbell, the Spiritual Life coordinator, said that the school had received an “outpouring of support through donations.” She said that the committee’s goal is “to help the students put IHM’s core values of faith, knowledge, service and integrity into action by praying for the troops, writing personalized thank you notes and gathering as faith community to participate in a service-oriented activity.”

The school invited US Navy veteran Doug Neal to share stories about his military experience with the students. Several Girl Scout troops collected donations.

Campbell reports that all of the packages are addressed and ready to ship. She said, “We have nearly 80 Military care boxes ready to travel to the very deserving military service men and women.”