Even though her brother Alden McCray has left for college sophopmore Lucy McCray kept up the tradition of giving to the troops. Alden was in charge of the drive last year.

"I felt like it would be a cool thing to do and that there would be a huge response from students,” Lucy said.

This years goal was to raise over 18 boxes, which is the amount Alden raised during last years drive. Altogether the drive helped to bring in over 20 boxes of things like canned foods, deodarant, chapstick and phone cards. The supplies are being sent to the armed forces stationed in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lucy ran the troop supply drive with the help of Alden and friends. The drive ran from Oct. 20 to Nov. 30. Lucy is currently in the process of shipping the boxes overseas to members of all branches of the military.

In addition to raising supplies for the troops, there was a competition among all classes to see which class could collect the most items from the list. English teacher Amy Poe's seventh period speech and debate class won after collecting hundreds of items. For winning the competition the class wins a pizza party.

Poe told students about her own connections with the military and challenged each student to bring in at least five items. In addition to giving supplies each student in the class wrote letters to the soldiers. Many teachers asked students to bring in at least one item for the drive.

Some students like freshman Robby Koch felt that it was necessary to send something to the troops especially with the holiday season coming up.

"I sent a letter and some soup cans, I wanted the soldiers to know that some one appreciated what they were doing," Koch said.

Lucy is hoping to run the drive again next year and make it an annual event.