Highland Elementary School students collected more than 4,000 items to donate to troops stationed at Fort Campbell and with the Army National Guard. During a ceremony Friday, students presented the donations to local National Guard, who will be deployed overseas in July.
Cathy Mullins, president of the Kentucky chapter of the American Gold Star Mothers and representatives from the 101st Airborne Division and 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment stationed at Fort Campbell, as well as soldiers assigned to the Kentucky National Guard’s 206th Engineer Battalion (based in Owensboro) were present during the ceremony, where these items were officially presented.
Donated items included hand sanitizer, tissues, baby wipes, lip balm, sunscreen, water flavoring powder, deodorant, toothbrushes and toothpaste, gum and other person hygiene items that will be distributed to troops in a care package format. The collection was initiated by the HES’ 5th graders as part of their annual service project.
One representative from the National Guard told the students his troops had never received such a gift before.
Sergeant Ray VonGunten III, a recruiter for the Army National Guard, told the students that their donations were equivalent to the kind of mentality that’s enforced in the Army.
“In the Army, loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, integrity, honor and personal courage–you all are showing a whole lot of that already, keep it up,” VonGunten said. “Use those values in your civilian lives, and when you get older — no matter what you do — you’re going to be successful.”
VonGunten told the crowd how grateful he was for the thoughtfulness that was put into the care package items donated by the students, even telling them how much it meant to walk around the hallways at HES and be recognized by the students for their work in the Army.
“Really, these carts right now are a huge representation of your hard work and loyalty to the soldier and the community. Being a soldier here in Owensboro, Kentucky is a little bit different than being on active duty,” VonGunten said. “When we’re on active duty, we walk around Fort Campbell and Hopkinsville and Clarksville, everybody sees soldiers every single day, so it’s kind of a repetitive thing and everybody’s used to it. But when you get outside the community, and you walk around the hallways and you guys say, ‘That’s a soldier,’ and you guys are solutting and everybody’s high-fiving us — that hits deep. That hits deep for all of us.”
Mullins was emotional as she told the crowd that her son had been in the service for 10 years, and that he’d missed seven of the last nine of her daughter-in-law’s birthdays and six birthdays of his children. She also spoke of her son, Brandon, who died while serving in the military.
“Sometimes he has to do things he doesn’t feel good about it. It’s hard,” Mullins said of her Sean currently serving in the military. “I can’t hug Sean every day, and I can’t hug my grandkids every day, and you know I can’t hug on Brandon anymore, but I can love on you guys. So whatever I can do to help you, that’s what it’s about.”
