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Loyola Students Donate Unused Meal Money For Military Care Packages

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Students at Loyola University didn't want their leftover meal money to go to waste at the end of the school year, so they've turned it into a real treat for U.S. troops serving in Iraq.

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Matthew Yandura, a professor of military science at Loyola, said he was told students' leftover meal money could be put to better use, and students apparently agreed, using some of that money to buy care packages for soldiers with the 101st Air Assault Division in Iraq.

"The numbers now far exceed anything we could have ever imagined," he said. "We thought 200 was going to be where we were going to be at, and maybe a little less, actually. Turns out that we've got over 1,250 of these care packages now."

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Yandura said the generosity of Loyola students is a testament to their character, and their concern for members of the military.

"I think it's an incredible statement about the men and women that this university attracts, and I think it's also an incredible statement about our Millennial generation," he said.

The $20 care packages include items such as sunglasses, handwipes, sunscreen, earplugs, and cotton swabs.

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