Blair Mill Students Give Back

A small gesture can go a long way. On Thursday, 400 colorful, handmade bags of small gestures containing candy, crackers and other goodies, were loaded into a National Guard vehicle. 

Those bags of sweet treats - which were cheerfully decorated by each and every student at  - plus accompanying donations of toiletries, batteries, clothing and more, were picked up by a handful of Pennsylvania National Guard soldiers from the 1/104 Cavalry based out of the Southampton Road Armory in Philadelphia.

The National Guard will take those small gestures to the Family Readiness Group, an organization comprised of people who have relatives in the service. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Society will pay for the packages to be shipped to Kuwait, Afghanistan, Egypt and Germany - proof positive that small gestures literally can go a long way. 

Fifth-grade teacher Susanna Kiss, one of two project coordinators, seemed pleased that the second annual Spring Service Project generated enough goodie bags for 400 soldiers - as compared to the . 

The school's collection drive spanned Feb. 29 through March 16 and garnered participation from all of the school's 400 students, Kiss said. 

On Thursday, some students served in somewhat of a leadership role, taking photos of their peers aboard the National Guard vehicle and introducing soldiers to students. 

"They're loving this," Kiss said. "They love being in charge."

Fourth-grader Amanda Leopold, one of 11 of the school's Girls on the Run group - a team training to run a 5K in May - said the Girls helped box everything up too. Amanda's job on Thursday was to help capture the moment. As students filed in and out of the National Guard vehicle, Amanda was snapping away. As 400 bags of small gestures prepared to leave the Hatboro school, Amanda was busily documenting it. 

"We're taking pictures so we can create a little project," she said.