Woods Road Donation Drive Sends Holiday Dinner Overseas

Woods Road Elementary School students are sending the turkey to the table—or the microwave—for an Air Force squadron this holiday season.

That’s because the students and parents spent the last weeks in October collecting microwaveable and non-perishable food items to send to Hillsborough alumnus John Conroy, an Air Force captain stationed in Afghanistan through the holiday season.

“Basically, we are collecting donations to send them Thanksgiving dinner,” Alyson Williams, the school’s preschool teacher, said. “Since it’s not an American base, they will not be getting Thanksgiving dinner and they are asking their families to send stuff out.”

Williams, who was Capt. Conroy’s neighbor growing up, heard of his predicament from his mother, Annette. She then emailed him to learn more about the items needed at the base—and presented it to Woods Road Elementary School Principal Jodi Howe and the school’s Character Education Committee.

“I said to tie into our caring pillar, why don’t we tie in this drive,” Williams said. “She (Howe) said it sounds great.”

The biggest challenge included finding Thanksgiving and holiday meals that could be prepared in a microwave. The base does not have a kitchen, oven or stove, or a refrigerator, Williams said.

As a result, the requested items included instant potatoes, instant stuffing, cranberry sauce, canned vegetables, crackers, cookies, fruit cups, drink mixes, and more. The donated items quickly packed a room in the school’s office, as students and parents brought items to donate.

“It turned out to be a much bigger project than I originally planned,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of Marie Callendar non-frozen microwave turkey dinners. We’ve also had a lot of Easy Mac and cranberry sauce.”

“People have been spreading the word as to where to buy hard-to-find items,” she added. “We’ve had some trouble trying to find canned ham because it’s not stocked in local shops until closer to the holidays.”

In addition to the holiday foods, the school also collected leftover Halloween candy, gathering several boxes of uneaten candy, she added.

The school ended its drive last week and intends to ship its care packages to the base this week to ensure it arrives by the holidays.

The boxes will also include cards from the students at the school.

“I think it surprised them that they only have a microwave,” Williams said. “They really didn’t process it until they heard he was not going to be home for Christmas. I think that really made them want to help. They were really excited to help out and to come in and drop off their donations.”