Meyersdale Area School District hosts Stockings for Soldiers

Each year, students, faculty and staff at Meyersdale Area School District work together to support the annual Stockings for Soldiers Drive. This beloved tradition has been providing soldiers with local ties a bit of holiday cheer for 11 years. Ginger Geiger and Tammy Hetrick serve as the organizers of this special program.

Organizers seek donations of food/comfort items. These items are boxed up and sent to local men and women deployed around the world. Each box also contains “extra” items for recipients to share with their squad members.

This year, organizers have added an element to expand the impact of the program. A food drive will be held simultaneously to provide items for the local food pantry.

“We would like to remember those serving our country and to help our local community,” Geiger explained.

Hetrick said combining these two outreach efforts is just one of many examples of the kindness and generosity within our school community.

“It is so important to remember the sacrifices that our service members make on a daily basis. They get bounced from location to location and, more often than not, are forced to spend the holidays away from family and loved ones,” explained Hetrick. “Many of our students can relate to this as they have family members who serve. I believe that contributes to the huge success of this project. Many times, students just want to participate and end up donating items that cannot be distributed to the military. By expanding the program to include the local food pantry, each and every donation is able to be utilized for good.”

Hetrick said the enthusiasm shown by the students is both inspirational and heartwarming.

“We have such an impressive level of participation in this project and are excited to be able to offer support to our local food pantry, which does so much for our community, our neighbors and our students.”

Hetrick said this cause is very dear to her heart, as the mother of a U.S. Army soldier, she is so proud of the patriotism and respect students show for the brave men and women who serve our great country.

“I believe we need to  teach our children that you don’t need to be the richest person in the world to make a difference in someone’s life.  Something small can bring a huge smile on someone’s face. My hope is that we all can come together at this time to do something great,” Geiger added. “Helen Keller said, ‘Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much’. . . we can help make a true difference in our community.”