HLV elementary students show their gratitude

Earlier this month, The Gazette published a notice asking Eastern Iowa schools to nominate school holiday community services projects. A group of reporters voted on the submissions, selecting three projects for publication in the newspaper. The following is one of the nominations we received.

HLV elementary students donated to Operation Gratitude as a special project for the holidays.

Operation Gratitude provides items for the men and women serving overseas. HLV students took home lists of wish items to collect in donations. They collected enough items to fill 12 boxes for American soldiers.

The boxes were shipped to Van Nuys, California. They will eventually be shipped overseas, bringing a little holiday joy to those far away from home.

Operation Gratitude has collected more than 498,000 care packages for U.S. troops to date.

HLV is a K-12 school located in Victor.