Seattle high school and college volunteer students.

Twenty five Seattle high school and college student volunteers prepared 60 care packages for troops overseas on May 26 to celebrate Global Youth Service Day and honor veterans for Memorial Day. The care packages were put together for U.S. soldiers stationed in Bremerton, Washington and deployed overseas.

The project was organized by Ms. Tameka Lampkin, a U.S. Navy veteran and former president of the Student Veterans Club at the University of Washington.

Global Peace Youth Corps volunteers collected in-kind donations from Wal-Mart, Starbucks, and Home Depot. The project kicked off at twelve o’clock, and for four hours the volunteers worked until everything was snug, taped and ready to be shipped out. In addition, many volunteers included personal letters of appreciation to the soldiers.

Volunteers add personal messages to the packages sent to soldiers.

The program also included special remarks by United States veteran and Outreach Coordinator of the Everett Veteran Center Mr. Nathan Sutton. He spoke on the true nature of the war and the hardships often experienced by soldiers returning home to the United States.

“Soldiers lose a lot of their foundation when they leave to join the military,” said Anthony Holmes, a volunteer and student at Edmonds Community College. “They often come back with no one to welcome them home, no parades or expressions of pride in what they’ve done, and they’re left to readjust on their own. Sometimes all they need is loving support, someone to appreciate their work and treat them for who they are.

“We appreciate soldiers not only for what they’ve done, but for what they have to teach, how they can inspire courage in all of us. We weren’t just writing to a stranger, we were writing to our family and friends, people willing to give their lives to defend our freedom. So we put the care packages together, not only with candy and socks, also with our compassion and gratitude.”