Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Learning Korner Preschool’s SunFlower class will send their Operation Santa care package overseas to a Soldier and his platoon in Iraq this Friday. This is the first time Sidney preschool children have participated in Operation Santa, but it will not be their last, preschool teacher Cassie Challburg said.
Learning Korner Preschool’s SunFlower class will journey to the post office on Friday afternoon to deliver the first Operation Santa project. The destination of this project package is Iraq.
Students from the ages of 2 to 5 and staff members will be sending a box of gift items for one Sidney solider overseas to share with his platoon, kindergarten teacher Cassie Challburg said.
Though the preschool students put on the event, the day care children and parents also helped and donated supplies to the cause.
The students collected an array of candy, snacks, entertainment items and toiletries, Challburg said. The children also handcrafted letters, cards and pictures to send overseas.
The preschool teachers chose which service member would receive the gifts by asking around the community if they knew of any Soldiers overseas.
“We picked people we know or heard about from the community serving over in Iraq,” Challburg said.
Challburg said that this was a way for the kids to learn about how to give back to their community.
“We just wanted to give the kids an opportunity to give since it is the season of giving,” Challburg said.
“Our goal is to lift morale, bring a smile to a service member’s face, express our appreciation and to raise their spirits during the holidays,” Challburg said.
The kids really enjoyed creating the holiday gift package, she said.
“The kids get excited to pick out the goodies and put them in the box. They come with bags full of supplies,” Challburg said.
The supplies this year were donated by the children and their parents at the preschool and daycare, she said.
Challburg said that the students have been compiling gifts since the end of November when the idea sparked in the heads of preschool staff.
Challburg said that one of the reasons that the preschool decided to hold Operation Santa was because they wanted to give back to the community in a different way then the multiple service events already in place around Sidney.
Preschool teachers hope to continue Operation Santa next December. Challburg said that not only will the class welcome more community donations to the cause next year but also next time she hopes to get more information about what local soldiers are overseas known to the community.
“For example, we want to be able to put more info about the soldier in the paper because a lot of people just don’t know,” she said.
Challburg said that this is the first community project that the preschool has participated in but it surely won’t be the last.
Challburg said that this event is not just to showcase the Soldier’s bravery and service but to also show the soldiers that the class is thankful for the sacrifices they make every day being away from their families.
“As we go about our daily lives, our troops stand watch over each of us, protecting us from harm and defending our liberties,” Challburg said. “They are a parent, a sibling, a child, a spouse, a friend, and fellow American. It is our responsibility to keep our troops encouraged and ensure they realize we are grateful for their service.”
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