Merrick Ave. students sending smiles to the troops

Students in Kristen Fusaro's Great Lives classes and the Builders Club at Merrick Avenue Middle School are now hard at work on the third annual Send a Soldier a Smile project. The students are collecting hygiene products, snacks, entertainment items, letters and holiday cards to send to the troops overseas during the holiday season. Students have also created and designed posters to encourage school-wide participation in the project, and are holding bake sales and selling yellow ribbons to support the troops. And they have written letters to local businesses for support. This year three of the six military units selected for this project have soldiers from the Bellmore-Merrick community. The project will continue through Dec. 10.