Love from the home front
Holiday packages ready to send to soldiers abroad

McKinley County Sheriff Investigator Maryann Bullhead talks to students at Miramura High School about care packages which will be sent to troops based on the donations the students provided. Scheduled to be shipped Monday, the packages will take up to three weeks to reach the recipient soldier. [Photo by Daniel Zollinger/Independent]

By Leslie Wood
Staff writer

Miramura High School student Colette Chee carries a bag of donated goods to a waiting vehicle of MiKinley County Sheriffs Investigator Maryann Bullhead. The goods will be packaged and shipped to troops. [Photo by Daniel Zollinger/Independent]

GALLUP — Eighth- and ninth-grade pupils at Miyamura High School organized a holiday drive to collect items for soldiers overseas.

On Wednesday, pupils loaded the 1,000 plus items into vehicles driven by McKinley County Sheriff’s Department representatives, who plan to ship the care packages by Monday.

Linda Ohle, a teacher at Miyamura High School, said students in her mentoring classes chose the project out of a list of possibilities and began soliciting donations from their peers just after the Thanksgiving holiday.

“It was great to see them involved in something good,” Ohle said.

Eighth-grader Thomas Burke said students divided into groups to complete the project. Some students made posters to advertise the drive, while others gathered names and addresses of possible recipients of the packages.

Pupil Jenna Noble has relatives who are currently serving in the military overseas.

“I think they’re going to feel very loved and respected,” Noble said of soldiers who will receive the packages.

Investigator Maryann Bullhead, of the McKinley County Sheriff’s Department, organized the project following her experience as a soldier in Iraq almost two years ago. She knows firsthand the impact packages from home can have on soldiers.

“It’s always nice to get something from home,” Bullhead said to the crowd of pupils. “You’re really going to make some soldiers very happy.”

The care packages will consist of items such as toothpaste, nonperishable snacks, playing cards, toiletries and socks. Ramah and Red Rock Elementary School pupils also made holiday cards that will be shipped alongside the packages.

Bullhead also urged the public to submit names of soldiers to the sheriff’s department by Friday and they will be included in the holiday shipment.

Ohle said pupils’ efforts to encourage soldiers won’t stop with the holidays. They plan to host a fund raiser to raise money to purchase beef jerky for soldiers.

Anyone interested in donating to the project or submitting the names of possible recipients of the packages can contact Bullhead at (505) 722-7205.