Catonsville Teen Spends Summer Helping Those In The Military

CATONSVILLE, Md. (WJZ) -- There are many ways teens can spend their summer---but for one Catonsville student, it's a time to reach out and help our men and women serving their country.

Ron Matz has more on Operation CatonsVillage.

Andrew Swan has had a busy summer collecting things like toothpaste and gum for Navy personnel serving overseas---more than 500 items so far. This is Operation CatonsVillage.

"I'm collecting candies that won't melt like Twizzlers and Swedish Fish. I'm collecting Tic-Tacs and gum, toothpaste, dental floss and sunscreen. I've collected 548 items so far," Swan said.

His brother Alex serves in the Navy and gets a lot of mail from home...but Andrew found out that wasn't the case for some others who serve.

"Andrew didn't realize that some people in the Navy don't get any mail. Some people get no care packages. I suggested he adopt a sailor and that wasn't quite enough so he adopted a ship," said Katie Swan, Andrew and Alex's mom.

That ship is the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

"My brother is in the Navy and I want to be in the Navy just because it gives back to the community and if I can't do that, I hope to be a police officer or firefighter," said Andrew Swan.

Navy moms are helping Andrew, too. They really need sunscreen and Chapstick.

Care packages from Catonsville and a proud Navy family.

"It means a lot because they are defending our freedoms so just giving back helps them," Andrew said. "I'm going to keep collecting until August 20 and then we'll ship the items out August 22."

"I'm very proud of both my boys. They're giving back and that's what it's about, right?" Katie said. "I love Facebook and there's a Navy Mom page and I just put it out there that he was doing this project and packages started arriving addressed to Operation CatonsVillage, which is the coolest. So it's been a lot of fun."

Andrew would like to have 1,000 items collected by August 20. For more information or to help, email usslittlebird@gmail.com.