Photo By Sayda Fairfield | Lt. Col. Timothy R. Johnson, commander of the 7220th Medical Support Unit, assists two...... read more read more
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SOCORRO, Texas – Students at Hueco Elementary School enjoyed a special Easter egg hunt surprise from the Soldiers assigned to the 7220th Medical Support Unit, April 1, when thousands of candy-filled eggs were brought to the school, donated by the unit and civilians who work at the Soldier Resiliency and Readiness Center on Fort Bliss.
The U.S. Army Reserve unit from Tucson, Arizona, mobilized and took over the SRRC mission in the fall of 2014, and wanted to make an impact on the community. Reaching east of El Paso, they found Hueco Elementary.
“They were the ones who reached out to us,” said Alejandro Olvera, principal of Hueco Elementary. “We never had the reach out from the military so far east. But adopting families is dear to us because we have a lot of needy families and (the Soldiers) are going out of their way for them. The fact that (the Soldiers) are reaching so far out so that the rest of the community can know that they are here to impact in a positive way, it’s amazing.”
After spending lunch-time with the students in the school’s cafeteria, the Soldiers took boxes filled with the eggs to the school playground and laid out the eggs, ready for the kids. Over 360 children participated in the egg hunt, with the assistance of the Soldiers. Each class took a 30-minute break from their regular school day to hunt for the eggs, equally distributing them amongst each other so that every child had some eggs to take home.
“We are a displaced reserve unit, geographically, our families are left behind so this is one thing we can do to give back to the community here and make a difference,” said Lt. Col. Timothy R. Johnson, commander of the 7220th MSU.
Not only was an egg hunt conducted for the preschoolers to second graders, but unbeknownst to a few kids who are living under unfortunate means, a school supply donation was also planned. After the excited screams and laughter died down, 7220th MSU Soldiers moved into the music room, where 40 children were gathered by the Hueco Elementary staff to receive the donated gifts. School backpacks filled with school supplies, shoes, clothing and toys, were handed out one by one to the selected children.
This event started out as a simple idea that Sgt. Victor Garcia, patient administrator for the 7220th MSU, took charge of and went forward with. Garcia reached out to Olvera, and both planned the event.
“When we planned the egg hunt, I went ahead and asked the principal if there were any kids that needed help due to poor financial means,” said Garcia. “He told me yes and before I knew it, there were about 40 names he gave me.”
Garcia took the 40 names back to the SRRC site and his unit on Fort Bliss and the overwhelming response touched his heart.
“First I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to help all the kids,” said Garcia. “When I went to my unit and the civilians that work with us, in about two days, all the names were adopted. People even asked for more kids names, so we had a tremendous support effort from everyone at the SRRC site. I was very surprised that it went this far at work, but after getting to know everyone, I don’t know why I was surprised because they are great people. They gave as much as anyone could give, maybe even more. My commander said that all I did was start the spark and the whole unit started the fire. It became a lot bigger than what we could possibly imagine it to be.”
The 40 children were excited about their gifts. Even one little boy was celebrating a birthday the day of the event, and someone donated a bicycle for his birthday.
The 7220th MSU has been at the SRRC site for about seven months now, and will head home in the fall, but not without doing another community related event like this again. Another school supply donation is in the works, and the 7220th MSU is gearing up for the event before they depart Fort Bliss.
| Date Taken: | 04.01.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.20.2015 12:01 |
| Story ID: | 160542 |
| Location: | SOCORRO, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | EL PASO, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | FORT BLISS, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | SOCORRO, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | TUCSON, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 131 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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