Stockings for Soldiers

Soldiers in Iraq will have very special Christmas stockings to open this year.

By Jacque Estes
| 10:03 p.m. November 17, 2016

Carmen Cafiero, Elena Principe, and Joyce Kidder organize the stuffed stockings. Photo by Jacque Estes

Gloria Nieminen and Paulette Smith stuff stockings, for soldiers, at Palm Coast Landing. Photo by Jacque Estes

Triplets Isabella, Kayla and Elena Principe, all students at Rymfire Elementary, worked with the seniors at Palm Coast Landing, on filling stockings for soldiers stationed in Iraq. Photo by Jacque Estes

Natie Yeh holds a white plastic bag as Joyce Kidder fills it with stuffed stockings. Photo by Jacque Estes

Liz Principe reads a letter, written by a Rymfire student, to a soldier in Iraq. Photo by Jacque Estes

The community center at Palm Landing was a Santa's workshop, as volunteers stuffed stockings for soldiers. Photo by Jacque Estes

Palm Coast Observer
Neighbors

The Pam Coast Landing senior living community room looked a lot like Santa’s workshop on Wednesday, Nov. 16. Red and white stockings were being filled by residents, staff and three students from Rymfire Elementary.

The team of more than 20 filled 100 stockings with items for U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq. Items going into the stockings included toiletries, small puzzles, DVDs, playing cards and more, donated by local residents.

“I go to Curves and I put a box there, and they kept filling it,” organizer Liz Principe said. “Everyone was so generous.”

The items will be shipped by the Invisible Warrior project, along with something special from the students at Rymfire Elementary and the Boys and Girls Club – 450 hand written cards. The project was sponsored by Dale Woodward Funeral Homes and Veterans, Family Memorial Care, and the Veterans Burial Society.

“A lot of the soldiers don’t have family at home,” Principe said. “No one even sends them a card. I read some of the cards the children wrote, and they were so moving.”