BUCKFIELD – The students at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School got into the Christmas spirit to make five special families very happy this Christmas. These families are celebrating Christmas without their dads, who are either in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Barbara Worthley, a teacher at the school, wanted the students to experience sharing Christmas with others. She spoke with WLOB radio host Ray Richardson and decided to take families of deployed servicemen who would not be home for Christmas as their project. She contacted Lori Jones with the Family Readiness Group out of Camp Keys in Augusta. Jones came up with five families who needed assistance.

Service personnel are often not paid as much as they are at their regular jobs, and some families are having a difficult time making ends meet.

The middle school took the largest family – a mom and four children; the high school took the other four families. Together, with staff, and under the leadership of Worthley, the students amassed a large number of gifts. The middle school students personalized their gifts with glittery decorations that denoted boy or girl gifts.

Friday, Jeff Young, retired from the Navy and National Guard came to pick up the dozens of gifts. When he saw the gifts he said, “I should have brought the 5-ton truck.”

Young said later he ended up making two trips in his Ford Focus. “Those kid did an awesome job,” he added.

Jones e-mailed Worthley with the sizes of the children in each family so appropriate gifts could be purchased. Most of the moms had said to forget them, just send gifts for the children. The school did not forget the moms, however, and included gift certificates in each family group.

As some students bagged the gifts, the others lined the walk to the waiting car and cheered as each bag was taken down. It was evident that this would be a different Christmas in the hearts of these students this year, as the applause and cheers were heard.

CAPTIONS:

Choice One:

Buckfield Junior Senior High School students Sami Jones, Jared Jones and Rachael Caron are packing gifts in bags from the Giving Tree as teacher Barbara Worthley looks on. The gifts are going to families of servicemen who have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Choice Two:

Students at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School line the walk to cheer as bags of gifts are loaded into a car to be taken to the families of servicemen who have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and will not be home for Christmas