CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Military children going to school on Camp Lejeune are headed back to class on August 23. The Atlantic Marine Corps Communities helped provide 467 bags of school supplies to school aged children living on the base.

What You Need To Know

467 bags provided to military children living on Camp Lejeune

Atlantic Marine Corps Communities partnered with Operation Home Front and Dollar Tree

Supplies also being provided to children in South Carolina, Massachusetts and New York

John Giltz is the project director for Atlantic Marine Corps Communities. He and his team spent hours packing, organizing and distributing school supplies to the children and their parents.

“We are very proud here at AMCC to partner. This is our second year partnering with Operation Home Front, and these school supplies that have been donated by Dollar Tree,” Giltz said.

Giltz is a retired Marine who is passionate about serving those who serve. He says these are people he cares about, and he remembers similar times when he was on active duty when his family was taken care of.

“I was the beneficiary of those. If in no other way, I knew there were organizations that would be here for my family, would support my family, would love on my family and would care my family while I was gone,” Giltz said.

Giltz believes the work he and his team are doing is a continuation of that.

“The very spirit of our country, our people, our fellow citizens wrapping their arms around these military families,” Giltz said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has restricted the organization from being able to do many of the things they normally do, but Giltz looks forward to future projects and is excited to be able to do more for as many families living on Camp Lejeune as possible.

“I am hopeful that we will get back to that as soon as we can, and expand what we do for our families,” Giltz said.

Along with the supplies being handed out to Camp Lejeune students, the organization is also helping provide more than a total of 1,000 bags of school supplies to military families in South Carolina, Massachusetts and New York.