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FORT MADISON, IOWA -- The DECA group at Fort Madison High School wants to honor military service men and women.

They want to do this by sponsoring a service project called "hometown Heroes."

The idea is to have a wall that showcases the faces, names and stories of local residents who are serving in the military.

In our call to action, we want you to contact Darlene Whitlock at Fort Madison High School at 319-372-1862 if you are a local resident who would like to honor a friend of family member ... or if you'd like to be a part of this developing project with the high school.

A group of Fort Madison Iowa High School students are wanting to bring attention to those men and women who are serving in the military both here at home and overseas with the project "Hometown Heroes."

The students are collecting items to send to troops overseas as well as putting pictures of them on a wall of honor at the high school.

Renee Wolfe says she and her sister came up with the idea to honor the men and women serving in the military by posting their pictures on a wall in the school lunch room as well as collecting items to send overseas. Something they think is a way to remember family and friends.

"We needed a service project for DECA and my sister decided to do it because we have a lot of family members that were in and a lot of people who have participated in the Army and things like that so we decided to do it because not too many people decide to do it," said Wolfe.

So far, there are about 20 pictures on the wall of Fort Madison high school alumni and other family members of current Fort Madison high school students. They're also collecting items that can be sent to soldiers overseas. And if the group gets any monetary donations, those will be used to help with shipping the packages overseas. Darlene Whitlock is the faculty advisor for DECA and she says with this there is a sense of patriotism with the students.

"I really think it's the pride that they have in helping other people and to see maybe they'll get some returns from the military people, some nice thank you's and let them know that what they've done has made a difference," said Whitlock.

The group is accepting donations at the Fort Madison Hy Vee on May 4, 2011 from 2 to 5 p.m. and at the Fort Madison County Market store on May 18, 2011 from 2 until 5 p.m.

On May 21, 2011, the students will be at Riverview Park at 9 a.m. to pack the boxes and also collect cards that residents want to send to the troops.

They're hoping to get enough items to fill at least seven boxes and send them overseas.

Now if you would like to know what kind of items you can donate to the care packages, you can go to the website www.USO.org.

There is a complete list of acceptable items and the students are working off that list for items to fill the boxes with by the end of the month.