The spirit of giving was overflowing on Nov. 30 at Ann Peterson’s Mercer Island home, as she and a large group of friends helped military mom Debbie Kane put together 26 care packages to be sent to Kane’s son and his platoon mates who are deployed in Afghanistan.

George Kane III, 24, is a 2004 graduate of Mercer Island High School and Gonzaga University, where he received his degree in finance. He joined the service, went through Army Ranger training last summer, and is now a second lieutenant with the 101st Airborne Division. He has been in Afghanistan since Sept. 13.

In addition to being soldiers, Kane and his platoon are reaching out to the people of the country.

“They’ve been visiting with children and elders,” Debbie said. “They plan to build a very basic school for the kids.”

To say Kane is proud of her son is an understatement.

Where the platoon is located is secret, so the care packages are to be sent to a base in Indiana, where they will be forwarded on to the troops.

The amount of goodies was impressive. A friend whose husband works for Starbucks brought Via instant coffee drinks, a favorite of the troops who do have hot water available. Another of her friends brought water bottles from Microsoft.

Nancy Lavallee brought small individual Q-Tips boxes for the soldiers, the brainchild of her 14-year-old son, Henry.

He thought they were a good idea because of all the sand they must get in their ears, Lavallee explained.

Barb Johnson brought a wide variety of small toiletry items. She said her husband was in the hotel business and they had a lot of hotel-size toiletries to share.

Each package contained toiletry items, magazines, coffee, candy, nuts, other snacks and a Beanie Baby, which the troops like to give out to kids they meet in Afghanistan.

The process turned Peterson’s living and dining rooms into an assembly line as the ladies put the boxes together. Peterson said last year they did this on a smaller scale, but this year they had a system going that they expect will continue to improve.

Kane has two other children: Sarah, a senior at SMU in Dallas, and Will, a freshman at O’Dea High School in Seattle. She has no idea when George will be home, but she said he will be deployed for another 18 months.

“He’s hoping to get a leave in January, but it depends on what’s going on,” Debbie said.