LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
The Joint Base Langley-Eustis African-American Heritage Council is lending a helping hand to local high school students this school year by hosting a base-wide school supplies drive, which runs through Aug. 31.
Collection boxes are placed at several high-traffic areas around Langley for people to donate new materials, such as pens and pencils, backpacks, paper, and books. Donations will be accepted daily from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
"The drive used to be run by the [633rd] Medical Group, but this year the council stepped up to lead the project because we want to expand it to the entire base," said project manager Staff Sgt. Amira Boyd. "Our past drives raised thousands of pounds of supplies. We're hoping to continue that trend."
Sergeant Boyd explained that donations will primarily benefit high school students, as the council members want to help lay the foundations for local students to continue their education into college and beyond. In addition to donating supplies, council members will visit the schools for motivational speaking events to instill the importance of education in students.
"We want to show the students that the military is there for them and wants to give back for all the support they've given us," said Sergeant Boyd, the 633rd MDG's cost center manager. "We see a need in our community and we want to help. We pride ourselves on being a positive influence."
Staff Sgt. Shelia Fitzgerald, co-program director, said, "It's a great thing for us to be able to do, and we feel really good about the impact we are hoping to make."
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nterested in donating to the 2011 JBLE AAHC School Supplies Drive? Here's what you need to know to help local high school students in need:
·All donated items must be new, and should include: paper, pens, pencils, backpacks, notebooks, calculators, binders, folders, highlighters, rulers, divider tabs, thesauruses and dictionaries, and agenda books or planners.
·Donations will be accepted daily from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Collection boxes are located at the Langley Exchange, the Bateman Library, the AAFES Class Six/Shoppette, Commissary, USAF Hospital Langley main atrium and the 633rd Dental Squadron.
·For more information, email Sergeant Boyd at amira.boyd@us.af.mil or Sergeant Fitzgerald at
shelia.fitzgerald@langley.af.mil.