Taylor Hayes discovered Wednesday that wrapping the lid of a shoe box isn't easy.

The small corners don't lend themselves to neatly creased folds, and just when everything is in place, the tape is missing.

But Taylor, a 16-year-old junior at Vinton's William Byrd High School, didn't complain.

She and about 15 other students spent an hour after school assembling and wrapping boxes of goodies to be shipped to Roanoke-based troops in Iraq and needy children in five other countries.

"If we can't bring the soldiers home, we might as well send something to them," Taylor said. "It is the least we can do."

Taylor and the other students are part of Total Action Against Poverty's Project Discovery program, which encourages teens to graduate from high school and pursue a college education.

This is the third year that Project Discovery has sent boxes to children and troops.

"These kids are such loving, caring kids that see beyond themselves," said Gloria Charlton, program specialist for Project Discovery.

Charlton has personal reasons for wanting to send boxes to troops overseas.

Her 22-year-old son, Craig Charlton, is in the Army and currently stationed in Germany.

She's already sent him and his buddies an artificial Christmas tree and a box of cooking supplies.

She said it is important to show the troops support.

"Sometimes soldiers don't feel the full support over there," she said. "We want to make sure they all know their hometown is behind them."

Gloria Charlton wrote to servicemen and women earlier this year and asked what they'd like to receive. The most common requests were Bibles and Slim Jim snacks, she said, but troops also asked for things such as yo-yos and playing cards.

Those items and more were donated by local businesses, students and school groups. Several restaurants and businesses in the Roanoke area have offered to pay for shipping, Charlton said.

While one group of students was busy boxing up those items, another was making up packages of things such as books and crayons for Operation Christmas Child.

Sam Hubble, a senior, missed the beginning of track practice to help.

"I'm supposed to be stretching," he said, shortly after things got under way in the school's cafeteria.

The children's packages will end up at West Salem Baptist Church, where they'll become part of a shipment that Gloria Charlton hopes will amount to more than 1,000 boxes.

The project is part of a larger effort organized by Samaritan's Purse, a Christian organization.

Nearly an hour after the work began, about 60 boxes and bags were being loaded into Project Discovery's bus.

"They did a great job," Gloria Charlton said, peeking into the bus' emergency exit.

"Wow."