Sailors from Naval Base Kitsap, Transient Personnel Unit (TPU) Puget Sound and submarine tenant commands visited Cougar Valley Elementary Dec. 16 to help the Cougar Valley student body and Cub Scout troop 4553 load 3,204 pounds of food collected during an annual holiday food drive at the school.

“This school is amazing. The students just get into it. It takes just a little bit of advertising and they just go crazy. Every day at lunch students volunteered to help the

Associated Student Body (ASB) advisor weigh and box up all the food,” said Rita Eklund, ASB advisor and learning specialist at Cougar Valley Elementary.

For one student, helping out with the food drive was a good way to give back to the community.

“I think the food drive helps people get food. So, they can have a great holiday like us,” said Kaylee Lingendirnk, a fifth grade student and ASB member.

The Navy helpers enjoyed themselves because it was a positive and fun way to show the children that they also care about our families who struggle to make ends meet.

“It’s important for us to help out, because it gives the kids a positive roll model. It starts with us then maybe others will follow our lead,” said Culinary Specialist 1st Class Christopher Boling. 

The staff as well as the students at Cougar Valley enjoyed having the Navy team on hand to help carry the many boxes of food.

“I think it’s cool we’re able to work with the Navy. I didn’t know we were going to do that. It makes it fun and interesting because Sailors are kind of like bigger Cub Scouts,” said Timothy Hager of Cub Scout troop 4553 and a student at the school.

Once the food was loaded into the Kitsap County Food Bank truck, it was taken to the food bank storage areas where Sailors and Cub Scouts rolled up their sleeves to separate the wide array of food into many milk crates.

According to Journalist 1st Class Mary Popejoy, Naval Base Kitsap, having the extra hands to sort the food was a big help for the food bank.

“During the holidays people are always saying, “It’s better to give than to receive,” and that is so very true in this instance because if we weren’t here to help the food bank employees they would have to spend countless hours after work to sort the food. I felt really good about helping sort the food because I knew that many of these items would give several needy families the boost they needed to have a nice holiday feast for their family.”

According to Chief Quartermaster (SW) Wil Hibbs, regional Personal Excellence through Cooperative Education (PECE) coordinator, he’s very proud of all the Sailors and Cougar Valley students who helped make the food drive a huge success.

“It’s important for our Sailors to get involved. It shows the Navy cares about the community and that we’re willing to take a break from our regular jobs to help them out. The Sailors provided a little bit of muscle to carry the boxes, but it’s the students and staff at Cougar Valley that deserve a round of applause because they went above and beyond to make this holiday season a lot brighter for the needy families. Being able to do something nice like this has definitely proven to be a win, win situation for everyone.”