Fifth Annual Fountain Elementary School Gift Project is big success

Photo By Phil Manson | Staff Sgt. Sonja Blue, Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, U.S. Army Reserve Support Command, First Army, heads down the hall at Fountain Elementary School laden with holiday goodies.  

UNITED STATES

12.19.2008

Story by Phil Manson 

First Army

By Phil Manson
Headquarters, First Army

FOREST PARK, Ga. – The holidays arrived a week early for students at William A. Fountain Elementary School as the Soldiers and Civilians of Headquarters, First Army, for the fifth consecutive year, provided gifts for every child in the school.

W.A. Fountain Elementary School, located in Forest Park, Ga., is First Army's Partner in Education. First Army Soldiers and Civilians provide mentorship and support throughout the year to the Fountain students, teachers and administrators.

From bicycles to Monopoly games to remote-controlled trucks and cars, every one of the more than 500 students received at least one holiday gift.

Lt. Gen. Thomas G. Miller, commanding general, First Army, shared his thoughts about the gift project and the children at Fountain.

"The Fountain Elementary Gift Project is one of the highlights of the year at First Army," said Miller, "and Mary [Mrs. Miller] and I are proud of the support our First Army family gives to the project."

According to Gayle Johnson, First Army community relations officer and project coordinator, the support the project receives is just amazing.

"First Army likes to support youth where they live and learn," Johnson said. "Certainly, the gift project is a special way that First Army supports the local community and our partner school. Everyone looks forward to the gift project every year - the school, the students, the First Army family – everyone! Santa makes his lists and checks them twice, and so do I. Coordinating the gift project each year is a true holiday treat for me."

No one was more excited about the project than Dr. Tonya Mahone-Williams, Fountain Elementary principal.

"We at Fountain feel very blessed, especially in these times of financial challenges facing many families, to have First Army so committed to our students," Mahone-Williams said. "One of the things we're working with our students this year is for them to do something for someone over the holidays - to 'pay it forward," if you will. Seeing the example the First Army Soldiers and civilians set makes it easier for us to explain and reinforce the concept of helping others during the holidays."

Several Soldiers within First Army Headquarters also pitched in to make the project a success.

One of those Soldiers, Staff Sgt. Sonja Blue, Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, U.S. Army Reserve Support Command, summed up many people's feelings about the project when said, "it's an opportunity for me to give back and help those less fortunate during the holidays."

In order to accomplish a project this large takes more than one or two people, and several organizations helped purchase, sort, wrap and label the more than 1,000 gifts. Groups who accepted the challenge and assisted included the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service, the Greater Atlanta Chapter of the Association of the United States Army, the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club of Georgia and Progressive Masonic Lodge 146, College Park, Ga.

• Date Taken: 12.19.2008
• Date Posted: 12.19.2008 20:21
• Story ID: 27918
• Location: US