Although the packages will not arrive in time for Christmas, Air Force troops in southwest Asia will receive holiday packages from the sixth grade students at Butler Middle School.

The students, who spent three weeks collecting items, on Friday packaged 153 boxes from 22 classes and 550 students.

The project was led by sixth grade teacher Kara Hovancik along with the sixth grade student council.

“My husband is in the Air Force Reserve,” Hovancik said of the idea's inception. “I've just always sent him packages. I know what it's like and how difficult it is, especially around this time of the year.”

The student council helped organize and document how much food the school collected, according to Raine Gratzmiller, a member of the sixth grade's student council.

All of that work had its benefits, according to Lucas Slear, another member of the sixth grade's student council.

“I was just happy that I was doing the right thing,” Lucas said.

Lucas and Raine were pleased to help out the military personnel.

Some girls on student council enjoyed two parts of the project: helping out the troops and being in charge, said Emma Lahman and Megan Penrod, two sixth grade students.

Ultimately, being in charge gave the students a sense of pride, especially with how much was donated, said Abigail Bosco, who is on student council.

“It's amazing, the outcome and how many boxes there are,” Abigail said.

Hovancik said she was surprised by the sheer quantity of food and other items being donated.

“I was so nervous with this being the first we're doing this,” she said. “It's something I think the kids are proud of. I never thought we would do this much. I looked at it all, and it just boggled my mind.”

Despite the age of the students, who are 11 or 12, Hovancik wants them to become involved members of society, which was another goal of the project.

“One of the main reasons for this project is to get the students to see the bigger picture,” she said. “There's more to their world than waking up and going to school. Even at the age they are, they can make a huge impact in the world.”

With all 153 of the boxes filled, the price tag for shipping is expected to be about $2,500, said Hovancik since each box costs about $16 to send.

The American Legion Post 117 of Butler will pay that as it has done with similar projects in the past. When the boxes were sent to the post office in Butler on Friday afternoon, multiple bystanders even offered to help pay for the postage.

“That's the most expensive part,” said Jim Dittmer, commander of Post 117. The post will pay for the shipping out of its small games of chance funding, he said.

Hovancik said she could not have completed the project without the American Legion's help or the school consolidation this year in the Butler School District.

“Being at 11 small schools would've never worked, but now the sixth grade is all in one place,” she said, saying the students would not have been able to donate on this large of a scale if they were at different schools.

Although the sixth graders will move to the intermediate high school next year, the students hope to continue the event, according to Emma. Another student, Alli Morrow, hopes that a field trip by the students back to the middle school could happen to keep the project going.

Next year, Hovancik will include the fifth grade in the project, which likely will occur around Veterans Day, she said.

“As long as I am still here, we're doing (the project),” Hovancik said.

The students who will leave the middle school have the same mindset though.

“This was just our first mission,” said Raine, with agreeing nods from Lucas.

“There is so much more to come,” Megan added immediately.