Sgt. 1st Class Eric Richardson had a simple request for his family members back home who wanted to send him a Christmas gift last year: Do something good for Iraqi elementary school students instead.

Richardson, a platoon sergeant from the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, asked his parents and family members to send him school supplies for a school in Taji, Iraq.

Throughout his first deployment to Iraq, the 33-year-old Grass Valley, Calif. native was extremely focused on completing the mission, said Lynette Ellison, his mother.

But second deployment brought out the more compassionate side of Richardson.

On the first deployment "you could tell he was a committed soldier," Ellison said. "This time I see how he's been able to show the humanitarian side of it. Any mother likes to see that."

After Richardson made his request, the surrounding community mobilized to help with the support effort. Ellison and her husband Glen (Richardson's stepfather) pounded the pavement and sent out feelers to help find enough supplies for the nearly 300 students.

An owner of a local stationery shop sold Lynette supplies at cost and donated more.

"We probably put in close to $200. I threw in a lot of other stuff," Dave Williams, the owner of Williams Stationery told The Union (Grass Valley, Calif.) newspaper.

"We've always been big supporters of the military."

Family and friends donated to the cause as well and the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter paid to send the nearly 20 boxes of supplies to Iraq.

"It's just a community that really understands that children are in need," Ellison said.

Richardson, who's currently out on a mission and wasn't able to be reached at press time for this story, did contact The Union three weeks ago to express his gratitude to those who helped generate and ship the school supplies.

"Yesterday (March 14) I met a child that could not speak nor could hear. I told him that in the next few days I would bring him a coloring book w/crayons," Richardson wrote in an e-mail to The Union. "I also told him that I had art supplies so that he could draw.

"His face lit up when told. His parents told me that there are 17 children in that one neighborhood that are just like him."

"There is a school nearby that is dedicated to help children like this learn and get an education," Richardson wrote. "I am going to visit this school and pass out as much of the school supplies that the great volunteers and residents of Nevada County have sent me."