Girl, 5, counts 100 ways to help soldiers in Iraq

Five-year-old Jasmine Jackson sits with seven boxes full of donations bound for troops serving in Iraq. Her great-grandmother offered to purchase $100 in supplies provided that the kindergartner could count to 100 with no mistakes. Jasmine and her schoolmates at Jackson Elementary brought in supplies including soap, disinfectant wipes, snack food and silly string to send overseas.

Eric Bellamy/ebellamy@greeleytribune.com

"1,2.....3,4,5.....6,7..8..."

When you're 5 years old, counting to 100 is a big deal.

For Jasmine Jackson, it meant not only could she become a member of the "100 Club" at her school, but she could also get some special gifts for the soldiers.

Jasmine doesn't quite understand what the soldiers are all about, but they're important to the adults in her family and the teachers and other students at her school.

Her great-grandmother told her the soldiers made it possible for her to go to school and to be free.

So, a few weeks ago, while Jasmine was working hard to learn to count to 100, her great-grandmother, Joy Addleman of Greeley, told her if she could count to 100 by the end of the weekend, great-grandma would give $100 worth of stuff for the soldiers.

Jasmine worked hard, learning the numbers, getting them in the right order, slowing down so she wouldn't make a mistake.

And, by that Sunday evening, Jasmine did it. She counted to 100, non-stop, no mistakes.

So Addleman said she'd donate the items for the soldiers. "Word got out about the $100, Addleman said, "and other people donated some money, and we ended up with $167 to buy the things soldiers needed."

At Jackson Elementary School, teacher Derek Evans was conducting a drive to collect the small stuff soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan need: shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, non perishable food, hand cleaner and hand wipes, sunblock and the strangest of all -- Silly String.

The Silly String, which is an aerosol can that shoots a stream of foam-like material in the shape of a long string -- is used by the soldiers to detect trip-wires for landmines and roadside bombs.

All the kids donated things to the drive, but Jasmine gave the most. After she convincingly counted to 100, great-grandma Addleman went to the Dollar Store and spent $167 for the soldiers.

At the end of the drive, Jackson School had collected seven large boxes of GI supplies. Evans kept the boxes in his garage until this week, when he donated to the local group for the Adopt A-Troop program.

With the help of Karen Pelzer of Greeley, who is leading the group, the kids' donations will soon be headed to Iraq and Afghanistan to help platoons from Colorado.

Two platoons would be about 100 soldiers.

And, if someone asks, Jasmine can count them.

Staff writer Mike Peters' column about Weld County people appears Mondays in the Tribune. His humor column, the Gnarly Trombone, appears Saturdays.

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