In honor of Veteran’s Day, Olin joined a university-wide effort to send care packages to troops currently deployed in the Middle East. Students were encouraged to donate supplies such as toiletries, snacks, and baked goods to send overseas.

Coming from a military family, this effort spoke to me. Six soldiers were chosen to be recipients of our care packages. Each soldier was related somehow to members of the Washington University community, and they each sent special requests for items they could not regularly find while deployed.

With a list in hand, a classmate and I went to Sam’s Club to purchase supplies. We picked out about a hundred dollars worth of snacks and baby wipes. When I dropped the items off, I was in awe of the sheer amount of donations. A few thousand dollars worth of items must have been donated! It was amazing to see so many people contribute to our soldiers.

Later, I volunteered to help organize and send out the packages. Fourteen volunteers divided up all the donations based on the type of product, and then started making groups of packages per soldier. Every soldier received at least three boxes, each with themes of either toiletries or snacks. A local elementary school also sent hundreds of hand written notes to these soldiers thanking them for their service.

When my brother was deployed, he said the best things he ever received were crayon written notes by children. And in a few weeks, all Wash U sponsored students will receive a stack of these special cards.

Care packages are sent a few times a year from Olin, so next time I will be sure to recruit young talent for crayon drawings.

Thank you to past and present military for your service!