Each year around the holidays, the Hammond Upper School Community Service officers look for a special group of people to become involved with for their Christmas project.  Although the target participants are from the Community Service Club, sponsors are always amazed at the overwhelming response from the Hammond family in general- students, parents, faculty, and staff, who come together with generous spirits and open hearts to help others.

Upper School parent, Anne Strickland (mother of Ben, Senior '06-'07), has spent countless hours working with the club and community service coordinators at other independent schools to help make their Christmas service projects a success.  This year Mrs. Strickland was again contacted for advice and she suggested doing something for soldiers and/or their families. 

The Hammond Community Service Club was able to connect with a group of ninety U.S. soldiers stationed in Afghanistan.  Initially intimidated by the large number of soldiers, club members worried that they would not have enough volunteers to do anything significant for a group of so many.  However, the club decided to rise to the challenge and formulated a plan to fill, pack and ship Christmas stockings for each individual soldier.

Following the project announcement, Upper school students, along with faculty and staff from the upper, middle, and lower schools, donated ninety-one stockings in all- each filled to the top with Christmas goodies.  An amazing amount of thought and generosity went into putting together each of these stockings. 

Four students in particular, freshmen Rachel Reeves, Alexandra Little, Gavin Fawcett, and Frank Beal, pictured here with sponsor Katherine Petersen, went 'above and beyond' the call of duty.  Together they donated nine extravagantly filled stockings, each of which included among many other things, a Christmas CD that they had personally made, a picture of themselves, and a card thanking the soldiers for their service and wishing holiday cheer.

Another group of participants who really made this project a success was Eleanor Craig’s Advanced Art class, who donated twenty-seven stockings in all.  Ms. Craig purchased the stockings, and her students brought the contents, filled the stockings, packed them in shipping boxes, and brought them to the upper school office to be mailed. 

It was sleeting when club representatives dropped off seven, forty pound boxes filled with stockings at the post office on the last day of school before the Thanksgiving holiday.  It seemed the perfect atmosphere to send off warm holiday wishes so many miles away to people who are not able to be surrounded by their loved ones for Christmas.

Although the packages were not expected to arrive in Afghanistan until Christmas Eve, the following message was received only a week after they had been mailed.

Katherine,

     Four enormous boxes arrived today -- all I can say is "WOW".  Never in my 17+ years in the Army have I seen care packages like these individual stockings.  You and the Hammond students have defined "going above and beyond."  Just incredible.

    On behalf of all of the Soldiers of the 10th Soldier Support Battalion, please accept (and pass along) my heartfelt thanks.