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Hazelwood North Middle School sixth grade student Katelyn Spier, foreground center, and her family received a bounty of donated items to help her uncle, Bobby Shoults, and his Army platoon, who are serving in Iraq. With Spier are her mother, Melana Gonzalez, left, grandmother Trudy Shoults, background center, and sixth grade social studies teacher Jenny Derleth.

What started as a simple request for letters to help a soldier turned into a contest between sixth grade teams at Hazelwood North Middle School.

Katelyn “Katie” Spier, a sixth grade student, has an uncle, U.S. Army 2nd Platoon Spc. Bobby Shoults, serving in Iraq. Her mother, Melana Gonzalez, his sister, and her grandmother, Trudy Shoults, a bus driver for the District, explained how the donations began.

“We were going to collect items just as a family,” said Gonzalez. “But during open house, I asked one of her teachers, Jenny Derleth, if the kids would mind being pen-pals with his platoon.”

As word spread about writing letters to the platoon, the whole grade level wanted to participate. It evolved from writing letters into a team donation contest. Gonzalez said she wanted to send items to her brother and his platoon that would make life easier for them.

“I thought this would be a great opportunity to collect things as a team, not just as one class,” Derleth, a social studies teacher, said.

Items collected included hand lotion, candy, pens, notebooks, beef jerky, movies, video games and more. One Hazelwood North Middle School staff member gave $30 for the postage to ship the first load.

The team that collected the most items earned a uniform-free opportunity (UFO) day for the students and the teachers. Spier’s team donated more items, but the real winners are Shoults and his platoon.

“There were 10 boxes full of stuff,” Trudy Shoults said in wonderment.

“It was nice because my classmates don’t even know my uncle,” Spier said.

Shoults has served in the military for two years and he arrived in Iraq in early June. Shortly before he departed, he got married, explained his sister.

The family decided against shipping the entire load overseas at once because of the cost and because they wanted to extend the giving period to ensure the platoon continued having packages to anticipate. At two-week intervals, the troops will have something to look forward to as a new group of boxes arrive.

“Every sixth grader made the platoon a Christmas card,” Gonzalez continued. “We cried at home while reading some of these cards. It’s amazing that all these people came together to do this.”

“The kids were very excited to be able to contribute to this cause,” Derleth said.

“Everyone got involved. I was so happy and proud of them for stepping up and participating. Some students even made the connection with their own families, ‘I have a grandfather who was in the Army’ or ‘I have an uncle in the military.’”

In recognition of their efforts, U.S. Army personnel will send a certificate, a pin and two badges to Derleth for the school to display.

(story courtesy of Hazelwood Communications Dept.)

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