Return to the "POINTER VIEW"November 21, 2001
Return to the "POINTER VIEW"
November 21, 2001
Members of West Point Boy Scout Troop 23 and volunteer drivers canvassed the housing areas here Sunday to pick up bags of food items left on porches by generous community members. The nonperishable donations were taken to the 1/1 Infantry where they were sorted and distributed to needy families Monday.
In the true spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, the West Point community has, once again, come together to help their own.
The first phase of the Holiday Share Program is well underway and because of the efforts of so many, those less fortunate will have a reason to be thankful this year.
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Lt. Col. Mike Huber, assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 23, gratefully accepts a donation from a family in the Stony Lonesome I housing area. |
Monetary donations are given to the Holiday Share Program from various organizations on post, according to Sgt. Bonita Hall, USMA command sergeant major’s administrative assistant. The funds are then used to purchase turkeys and be distributed to families determined to be needy. Any monies left over from the Thanksgiving portion of the program are held to be used in the Christmas portion, she said.
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Brian Meese, 11, (left) and Eric Patterson ,16, (right) load bags of donated food into the back of one of the vehicles that helped transport the Scouts through housing Sunday to pick up "Scouting for Food" contributions. |
"This year, we received nearly $1,500 in donations and the cadets are still collecting. They usually raise about $2,000," Hall said.
In addition to the monetary donations, Boy Scout Troop 23 here went door-to-door in the housing areas distributing food donation bags to residents Nov. 11. They returned to the housing areas Sunday to collect donated items and transported them to a holding area at the 1st Battalion, 1st Infantry. Soldiers sorted the food and made it available to the families on the list Monday afternoon.
The Boy Scouts have been involved with Scouting for Food for many years, according to Lt. Col. Mike Huber, assistant scoutmaster for Troop 23, and he feels it helps make the scouts more conscious of the importance of helping others.
"This is a great service project, since it helps our scouts consider that others may not be as fortunate as we are and we can hopefully help in a small way by collecting important food items," Huber said.
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Assistant West Point Scoutmaster, Lt. Col. Mike Huber, picks up bags of donated food from housing areas Sunday as part of the "Scouting for Food" program. |
For senior soldiers, the program offers yet another way of saying thanks to their junior counterparts.
"This is a great opportunity for our own community to take care of our own soldiers," said Master Sgt. William Morgan, 1/1 Infantry holiday share program representative. "This is a time for giving thanks and to show the soldiers that their efforts are appreciated and that we care." He said about 85 families will receive Thanksgiving donations.
"The Holiday Share Program is important because it shows our soldiers that the leadership cares about them and we want to make sure a holiday of thanks allows the soldiers to celebrate it as such. It gives people that have more and normally give to outside charities, a chance to give to those in need a little closer to home," said Command Sgt. Maj. Mary Sutherland, USMA command sergeant major.
And for 85 USMA families, the meaning of Thanksgiving is ringing loud and clear.
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