Thanks to the efforts of a Laurel Hill man, a group of fourth graders and soldiers stationed overseas may have a brighter Christmas.

Eighty-eight students from all five fourth grade classes at Laurel Hill Elementary School received a lesson in giving Thursday when parent organizer James Locklear, along with the Scotland County Veterans' Service, brought donated goods to the fourth grade class where Locklear's son is a student. The purpose of the visit was to have the students create care packages of the items, which would then be packaged and shipped to servicemen and women overseas.

The students placed a variety of items including snacks, toothpaste, hand sanitizer, lip balm and other personal items into the bags, along with letters from each student to the soldier receiving the package.

Locklear hoped the gesture would accomplish two goals at once.

"A friend of mine is overseas, and my son is in the fourth grade," Locklear said. "It seemed like the perfect opportunity to do something for the soldiers while teaching my son the value of helping others."

Locklear's son, Xavier Cox, is a student in Misty Peed's fourth grade class.

"It feels good to do this," Xavier said. "I think that when the troops get this stuff they'll say, 'I can't believe it.'"

His teacher hopes that the children will learn a valuable lesson from the experience.

"I feel like it's such a great opportunity for the kids to show both patriotism and concern for others, especially at Christmastime," Peed said. "It's a great way for them to learn to be 'other centered'".

Two of Peed's students have fathers deployed or are soon to be: Mark Bristow, father of Morgan Dickerson, and Ryan Guinn, whose son Drew is also a fourth grader in Peed's class.

The students began preparing the care packages in the afternoon. Following a break to enjoy pizza donated to the students by Pizza Inn, Peed's fourth graders lined up with plastic bags containing their letter to place the collected items in their bags from the goods that were spread on tables in the classroom. Q-tips, crackers, mouthwash, kleenex and Sudoku puzzle books were some of the items included. Jay Troublefield, a member of the American Legion who assisted his nephew Locklear with the materials, placed disposable razors in each student's bag as the line progressed.

Also in attendance was Veteran Service Officer Mildred Williams.

"The Scotland County Veteran Service had previously collected a total of 1,334 items for military care packages for soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan," Williams said. "Combined with Mr. Locklear's efforts, we will now be sending out 3,466 items to soldiers overseas that will arrive in time for Christmas."

All five fourth grade classes participated in the care package assembly. Cathy Collins was one of the instructors from a neighboring class.

"The kids were very excited to participate in this event," she said. "We created 'circle maps' on the board, where we listed some of the reasons why we were creating the packages and assisting the troops; we then used the comments to help them write their letters. I'm very proud of them, because the students took a grownup approach to writing their letters and assembling the packages."

Items are still being collected for future shipments, according to Williams.

"If anyone wants to make a donation, or if they want to give me the name of a Scotland County soldier presently serving overseas, we will send a care package to him or her," she said.

For more information, call the Scotland County Veteran Service at 277-2597 Monday through Friday.