It was a situation that even Santa wouldn’t have believed.  But since Christmas magic has a way of making holiday miracles happen, we were making a list of things that soldiers might want or need and gearing up to solicit donations from our school family before we even had a single soldier to sponsor. 
            Since our third graders had sent 44 care packages to our two adopted soldiers on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan last December, the Glaze-DeMarco leadership duo that pitched the project figured we ought to open it up to the whole school and see what would happen. 
            Would donations double, or better yet, triple in size?  We didn’t know, but we did know that the Rotary had doubled its contribution and paid for the first 40 boxes.  You see, a flat-rate US Postal Service military box costs $12.50 each to ship, so we had to believe that we’d get the rest covered.
            So our call for the names of soldiers we could support as well as for the donations we’d need went out simultaneously.  We aligned our collection with Veterans Day – items would be collected between November 8 and 12 - so that the children could make a connection by honoring and saluting those who’d served before, and treating and thanking those who are serving now. 
            Each of our 700 students at Westwood wrote a letter and drew a picture to be sent with the boxes.  As the names of soldiers serving overseas trickled in, so did basic-need toiletries as well as games, books, toys, candy, non-perishable food and other fun goodies for our troops.  Every afternoon, a little elf would pick them up from the classrooms and take them to the Donation Station, where volunteers stood ready to separate and sort the stuff. 
            By mid-week, we had adopted 15 soldiers from the Westwood family and gathered a mountain of treats, trinkets, and treasures.
            By the end of the week, our collection had exploded!  I had stumbled on the illustrated picture book, A Soldier’s Night Before Christmas, by Christine Ford, over the weekend and picked up the five copies I found.  Our volunteers thought we ought to have a book for each of the soldiers, so they headed out about town and found ten more so that we could include those in our packages as well. 
            Monday afternoon, our elves moved the goods to our Packing Station and started to assemble APO boxes.  Cub Scout Pack 445 phoned and asked if we could include some of their surplus popcorn packets, so Monday night we picked up their donation of eleven cases of kernels for the corps. 
            By Tuesday, our students were packing the large shipping boxes for our troops.  Before we left school that afternoon, we had 80 boxes ready to go and at least 28 more to pack.  Unsure that we had secured enough postage, we put out an S.O.S. to rally the troops locally by asking them to Adopt A Box; before we knew it, offers to adopt one, two, five, and ten rolled in. 
            Wednesday afternoon brought us a sweet surprise when Sgt. Benjamin Stilwell, a Westwood alum and the recipient of 22 of our boxes from last year’s drive, stopped by Santa’s Westwood Workshop to help our first graders put the finishing touches on the packing process.  He told the children how much their priority mail (and especially their pictures and letters!) meant to him and his platoon during his tour far away from home in Afghanistan.
             With a huge, child-like grin on his face, this 28-year-old soldier said that the Nerf football we sent was their favorite thing of all.
            Thursday afternoon found our amazing volunteers completing the 125 customs forms that it would take to ship boxes to all of our adoptees.  First thing Friday morning, second graders from Teresa Waltenbaugh’s class helped carry out the boxes and load them into the vans so that our elves could transport them to their 9:00 a.m. appointment at the Friendswood Post Office.
            It was a scene even Santa wouldn’t believe.  Volunteers almost too numerous to count swarmed the van to offer a helping hand to the Santas For Our Soldiers project.  Laura Danielson, whose son-in-law Patrick just returned from Iraq in July, cheerfully shared our story as an assembly line ferried the boxes to Patsy, the clerk behind the counter. 
            Our community connection, Mayor David Smith, was on hand, too, to present the Rotary check for the boxes they’d adopted.  Nancy Glaze, who saw the project through from planning stages to completion, was there to coordinate the Post Office stop with her friends Jamaica, Cheryl, and Holly.  Pam DeMarco, who had also worked tirelessly from the start for this cause, was there in spirit! 
            Three hours later, our goods were good to go, all 125 boxes, now en route to Iraq and Afghanistan to simply say, “Thank you, heroes, for your service and sacrifice.  We appreciate you!”
            And how does this service project opportunity affect our littlest learners?  Our donations had almost tripled, and so had our joy.  Bubbling with excitement, six-year-old Madison put it so eloquently when, with a twinkle in her eye, she told a reporter from Fox News, “I think it will make them happy and it makes my heart feel happy.”
             A worthwhile project like Santas For Our Soldiers has the power to create a synergy that can generate the happiness of holiday magic all around.  It’s the little things that make a big difference.  We believe!