Saugus students make packages for troops

SAUGUS – With summer vacation fast approaching, most kids can?t wait to go home and play after school.But students at Veterans Memorial Elementary School on Wednesday stayed late to put together care packages to send to troops serving overseas.Toni Rau helped organize the effort with Saugus Military Families as tables were set up along the gym to hold the countless items donated by students.?I built a bridge with (Saugus Military Families) and the school my kids are going to because we have access to 650 families,” said Rau, who has a son and a daughter at the school. “We sent a note home saying, ?Please send in something.? We separated it by grade and we had a lot of stuff donated by families.”Spread out across the tables were stacks of books and DVDS, dozens of bottles of mouthwash, tubes of toothpaste and containers of foot powder along with snacks like chips, crackers and cans of Chef Boyardee ravioli.Students organized the items into individual packages Wednesday to be sent out to Saugus residents serving in the military.Denise Sanders is a member of the Saugus Military Families and has a daughter in Germany serving in the Air Force. She said it?s “amazing to see” so many kids helping out.?It?s wonderful,” she said. “We?ll take the boxes and ship them out. Anyone that has someone or knows someone in the military and they have their address, they give it to us and we ship it out. They always share too.”Students also wrote letters to be sent overseas too.?Thank you for protecting us from harm and danger ?” said one letter. “We will always (honor) you for who you are and have a place for you in our heart.”Another letter thanked troops for “keeping our country safe.”?You all are brave and heroic. We all appreciate you. From now til when we might grow up to be like you.”Fifth-grader Kian McCabe was helping to organize some of the items Tuesday and said she always liked the military because her grandfather served.?They?re really unlucky and don?t really get special attention as much, so it?s kind of important ?” she said. “Now that we have all this technology and stuff, we can talk to them; it?s just that they don?t have anything else.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].