McCook Jr. High Student Council donates to Adopt-a-Chaplain program

Adopt-a-Chaplain organizer Ann Trail with an unexpected check for $150 from the McCook Junior High School Student Council.

McCOOK, Neb. - Without solicitation or warning, the longtime organizer of McCook’s Adopt-a-Chaplain program, Ann Trail, received an unexpected check for $150 from the McCook Junior High School Student Council. A very pleased Ann Trail wished to thank the students and told the Gazette, “I wasn’t expecting this,” adding, “I almost cried.”

The check was sent with a Christmas card signed by 18 sixth through eighth grade students.

Through the “Adopt-a-Chaplain” program, Trail and other volunteers send care packages to brighten the Christmas holidays for soldiers and sailors who are deployed in Iraq, Kuwait, Poland Korea.

Trail estimated that she ran the campaign for 17 of the last 21 years, but the program is now in the capable hands of Linda Nielson, also of McCook.