Organizations, schools and churches in Cherokee County are working to make the holidays for local soldiers serving overseas as comfortable as possible.

Canton First United Methodist Church is organizing a collection drive for one of its members serving in Afghanistan.

The church through Sunday is collecting items such as coffee, boot socks, cereal bars, candy, new and used DVDs, and toiletry items to send to Ken McKibben, who's serving as a military policeman at a base in the country.

Church member Jenelle Bryan said the congregation has amassed dozens of boxes filled with items that she will send off next week.

"I'm amazed so many people have responded so quickly," she said.

The collection drive began Nov. 29, and Mrs. Bryan said the organizers, along with McKibben's wife, Kelly, will gather on Tuesday to pack the items. They will also conduct a prayer service for the men and women who are serving overseas.

The River Green Outreach organization will ship out the remaining items it collected during Thanksgiving to soldiers serving overseas.

The collection is part of the Canton neighborhood's Adopt-A-Soldier campaign, through which local schools sponsor a soldier by creating a care package and sending cards to the service men and women.

The first shipment of 39 boxes went out before Thanksgiving, and the next is scheduled to go out this week or early next week, said Cristina DeMartini, the founder of the organization.

Some of the items that will be shipped include nonperishable snacks and food, toiletry items, books and magazines, and letters from children at the five schools it partnered with for the campaign.

"People donated so much, so we had to break it up," she said of the two shipments. "It has been overwhelming."

One soldier had a special request: autographed material from country music act the Zach Brown Band. Mrs. DeMartini said they were able to obtain an autographed CD, T-shirt and hat for the soldier.

Creekland Middle School students also collected items to send to troops overseas through a drive sponsored by its Beta Club.

Sixth-graders gathered toiletry items; seventh-graders collected nonperishable snacks; and eighth-graders rounded up entertainment items such as old and new magazines and playing cards to send.

Lindsay Williams, eighth-grade language arts teacher, said the school turned the items over to Creekview High School's Junior ROTC students, who gathered the items last week.

Ms. Williams said she had about five bins full of items, adding students were not offered incentives for collecting items.

The "It's Your Turn to Give Back" campaign, she said, was designed for students to understand giving without expecting to receive anything in return.

"The soldiers sacrifice not expecting anything in return," she said. "We should expect students to do the same."

The Davis Tree Farm in Keithsburg donated 50 live Christmas trees to local military families as part of the nationwide Trees for Troops program.

This is the first year the farm participated in the program, through which shoppers could make a donation toward a tree or sponsor one on their own for $25 to $60, depending on size.

All of the trees were delivered on Saturday to the Georgia National Guard Armory in Canton.

The armory helped its Family Readiness Group with shipping Christmas packages over the Thanksgiving holidays to the local troops serving in Afghanistan.

The group sent about 15 boxes of items such as soap, toothpaste, razors, nonperishable snacks and books and magazines to the soldiers.

The armory also helped the group conduct a Christmas party for the families of soldiers who are stationed overseas. More than 400 people attended the party on Saturday in Calhoun, said Lisa Lewis, chairwoman of the Family Readiness Group.

Mrs. Lewis, whose husband is deployed, said it's imperative others think about the impact a soldier not being home can have on his or her family.

"It's hard for them to not have their parent around," she said of children of soldiers. "It's just not the same."