TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Coleman Middle students pack school supplies for Afghanistan

Staff photo by JIM REED

Coleman Middle students assemble boxes of school supplies aboard the SS American Victory ship docked at the Florida Aquarium.

ADVERTISEMENT

By SHERRI ACKERMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 11, 2009

TAMPA - They boarded the old World War II ship in the Channel District early today, carrying pencils and notebooks, calculators and backpacks for children in Afghanistan.

About 26 Coleman Middle School students hand-delivered more than 2,500 items collected at their south Tampa school to the SS American Victory Mariner's Memorial and Museum ship.

Then, they helped pack the supplies for temporary storage aboard the ship before shipment by air to Afghanistan, where children risk their lives just to go to school.

All on a Veterans Day free day for Hillsborough school district students.

Eleven-year-old Nathaniel Seiler was struck by one encounter he heard about at the school, in a remote village of the Alisaya Valley. A local soldier was mobbed by a group of students.

"What intrigued me the most," Nathaniel explained, "they gave them candy and they turned it down."

Instead, the students begged for pencils then broke them apart to share with others.

"It's pretty terrible for kids not to learn," said Nathaniel, a sixth-grader. "In my opinion, that's what makes the world go 'round."

Coleman is one of nine local schools collecting the supplies in a drive organized by U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Rex Temple and his wife, Liisa, of Tampa.

You can read Temple's account of the school supplies drive here, from the Sept. 12 Tampa Tribune, and about his efforts to stay in touch from the war zone via Facebook and Twitter from an Aug. 8 Tribune story here.

Here's how to contribute:

• Send an e-mail to TRexinAfghanistan@gmail.com

• Send checks to The Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation Inc., Afghan School Supplies Fun, P.O. Box 2877, Tampa, FL 33602.

• Donate by credit card at http://foundation.hklaw.com

Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT