Tuesday, December 05, 2000

Several packages were dropped at the Austin Red Cross on Monday. The packages themselves looked like thousands shipped this time of year, but these were special.

They contain the well wishes of Austin elementary and high school students – and enough holiday treats to bring joy to many U.S. servicemen and servicewomen in Saudi Arabia.

The packages’ journey will end at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, where there are 5,456 American military personnel of all branches stationed.

Marketing students and Distributive Education Clubs of America members Emily Bue, Bridget Burzinski and Laura Nace decided to focus on community service for a recent assignment.

Initially, the three juniors contacted the Salvation Army, American Red Cross and other community organizations. By chance, the Red Cross contacted them first and suggested several project ideas. The prospect of helping military personnel immediately stood out to the girls.

They organized the project, coordinated the collection of donations, chose the packages’ destination point and packaged the items for shipping themselves. Burzinski said several marketing classes combined their efforts, including Introduction to Marketing and Marketing I and II.

"The students usually compete to see who can collect the most DECA dues in the shortest time," marketing teacher and DECA adviser Ginny Riege said. This time they used the same incentive to motivate students to give to the project.

DECA raised $123.22 and sent items such as cookies, VHS movies and CDs.

"We sent reminders of home," Nace said.

The girls say that it feels good to help and that it was fun to shop for the items.

They will be writing a paper describing their project, the steps they took and the outcome to complete Riege’s Marketing II class assignment.

The project received donations from local stores, including Target, ShopKo, Kmart, Hy-Vee Food Store and Cash Wise Foods. Last Friday was the last day for donations.

Nicole Prewitt and Jessica Vietor, co-presidents of the Student Council at Neveln Elementary, said that they learned of the project through the Austin High School DECA program and decided to contribute.

Neveln students raised $90 in order to purchase items such as candy, coffee and puzzle books.

"These gifts will warm the hearts of people who wouldn’t normally get much of anything this time of year," Red Cross Assistant Director Mary Goetz said.

Student council representative and third-grade teacher Mark Anderson says that besides the gifts, Neveln students wrote letters and sent drawings to Saudi Arabia.

Questions posed to the service people concerned the weather, their jobs and what kinds of tasks women do while in military service. Prewitt and Vietor said that they are excited to receive responses.

"It’s great to see youth helping to say ‘Happy Holidays,’" Goetz said.

"We’ve done this project with various groups for the past six years," Red Cross Executive Director Elaine Hansen said, "and this is definitely the most that’s been collected."

Goetz says that service people are always looking for letters of support from home this time of year, especially in Kosovo, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

For information and addresses, contact the Mower County Chapter of the American Red Cross in Austin.