Soldiers in Iraq will be able to “phone home” a little more often, thanks to the Oakville Middle School Student Council.

Thirty sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade pupils recently raised $300 to send 30 international phone cards to U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Mark Funk in Iraq.

Student Council co-sponsors Lindsay Evans and Brett Wilhelm organized the project that was a brainchild of fellow teacher Kim Foster.

In a news release, Foster stated that her language classes wrote letters to the soldiers earlier in the school year. Student Council members voted to use the money they raised by selling “boo grams” for Halloween — similar to candy grams for Valentine’s Day — to support the troops in Iraq with gifts of letters and phone cards.

Evans stated in the release, “Many Student Council members volunteered and stayed after to copy the cards for the students. Over 20 stayed to fold and divide the cards into groups. I am so proud of their response to help others.”

A phone card will be sent with each group of 30 handwritten cards with inspirational messages to the troops. She stated that Funk e-mailed her, saying he is excited about the package headed his way. He plans to send pictures back to her.

All of the school’s pupils were encouraged to write a card. More than 700 letters were sent with the phone cards.