Throughout the rest of the school year, Key Club will be creating care packages to send to the American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting in the War on Terrorism. In order to sponsor and create these packages, Key Club is joining with an organization known as Honor Our Troops (H.O.T.).

“Honor Our Troops is a program where schools or individuals collect money and every $25 collected pays for a care package that goes to a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan,” Key Club sponsor Ted Vaughan said.

One of the strong motivations for Key Club members to get involved with this project deals with making sure the American armed forces know that they have civilian support.

“Everybody wants to know that there’s still somebody who cares about them,” Key Club secretary Jacquelyn Montoya said. “No matter what, we should always support our troops because they’re the people that keep us protected.”

Vaughan has also noticed that visible support for the American troops has tapered off in comparison to past conflicts.

“I don’t want the guys over there to feel like they’ve been forgotten,” Vaughan said. “It’s been such a long conflict, too, that [the well being of our troops has] probably moved to the back of people’s minds a little bit.”

Key Club treasurer Justin Mendez said that he believes the United States military is in need of support from the American public.

“Small organizations like Key Club are starting to help and make people realize that they can make an impact by getting the whole school to help out,” Mendez said.

Each classroom is asked to make a donation for one care package, but is not limited to a single donation and Key Club will be providing students the opportunity to donate and sponsor packages on their own.

“I hope that students gain the realization that there’s a G.I. over in Iraq who’s a little bit happier because their essential daily requirement has been filled by some kid at Bryan High who had no idea who they were,” Vaughan said.