Living in Anchorage, Alaska, with two military bases nearby, has brought the war overseas very close to the hearts of Anchorage Jr. Academy students. One of the teachers has a son overseas, and many friends and family members are serving. Even the students’ Pathfinder leader, Vern Osborn, served in Uzbekistan.

When Osborn left, he asked the students to search their closets for clothes and toys for the orphanages he would be helping while overseas. After surveying what was donated, the seventh- and eighth-graders also went shopping at Wal-Mart. These 11 students spent more than $400 dollars of their own money on toothpaste and brushes, baby aspirin, children’s vitamins, hats, gloves, coats, sweat pants, toy cars and books. They mailed all this to Osborn using funds usually earmarked for their field trips and other fun activities.

Throughout the school year, the students wrote to soldiers, sending Bible verses and words of encouragement. When the war started, they put up yellow ribbons around the school grounds, where they remain still. The students pray for the day they can cut them all down.