A collaborative endeavor by staff and students at Sunview Elementary School is currently underway, called “Stockings for Soldiers,” as a way to honor and demonstrate gratitude to US soldiers overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan, during the holiday season. Spearheaded by first grade teacher Jaime Young Bloom, stockings are being filled with a wide variety of non-perishable items, and will be shipped to soldiers just before the winter holiday season. Items being stuffed include long socks, batteries, playing cards, shaving cream, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and even reading material, among many other items.
The opportunity to contribute to our soldiers has certainly been enhanced over the years as well, in a number of ways. The original idea was brought forward in partnership with DeJohn Funeral Home, where Mrs. Bloom’s husband, Rick, works. They began this practice some four years prior, when the idea to involve Sunview Elementary emerged. What first started as a class initiative by Ms. Bloom’s first graders has grown into a full scale school wide effort. Last year alone, approximately 180 stockings were officially stuffed for our soldiers. And this year, promoting the event so others throughout the district and in the community is a top priority.
“This is a fun project with which families can be involved,” commented Mrs. Bloom. “Students even wrote letters of encouragement to our troops as well, in hopes of receiving a return note." For more information about the Stockings for Soldiers initiative, please contact Mrs. Bloom by email or dialing her school number at 216-691-2225.