Last year, Hope Ross came up with the idea of distributing leftover post-prom food to U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

"I became aware of how much stuff was thrown away after post-proms and felt that was a shame," Ross, a Manheim Township mother of three, said.

Ross' idea was to gather up the leftovers — cookies, chips, snack cakes, pretzels, candy and chocolate, along with a few other items, such as toiletries, coffee and beef jerky — and send them to the soldiers.

Boxes of Hope, she called them.

One of her hopes was to find a local soldier to hand out the food and other items in Iraq.

Then Ross saw Sgt. Jeremy Strathmeyer on television just before he was deployed to Iraq. She knew she'd found her man.

Strathmeyer said he was honored when he got the call about serving as a Boxes of Hope liaison.

"I think Hope's idea to do this is very generous and selfless," Strathmeyer said. "She involves other people and helps the younger ones realize that you don't have to be in the military in order to help our soldiers."

Strathmeyer, 33, and his wife, Michelle, a special education teacher in Lancaster, live in Lititz with their two children. A 1994 graduate of Manheim Township High School, he went to his high school prom.

After high school, Strathmeyer joined the Army and served as a paratrooper, stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C. Four years later, he came home and joined the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. After going to Delaware Valley College and Harrisburg Area Community College, he was hired by York as a police officer in 2001.

"I got married to my wife, Michelle, in August 2004 and was deployed to Iraq for the first time in March of 2005, a few days after our first child, James Lee, was born," Strathmeyer said in an e-mail.

Sixteen months later, he returned home to his family and the York police, only to be reactivated in September 2008 with the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania Army National Guard. He's now in charge of a medical facility in Camp Taji, Iraq, where he has about 60 soldiers working in his clinic.

Ross will be gathering baked goods, snack foods and other items from post-proms starting at Manheim Central on April 18, followed by Warwick on May 2, Manheim Township and Hempfield on May 9, Garden Spot on May 16 and Solanco on May 23. They'll be sent to Strathmeyer, who will then distribute them in Iraq. Perishable foods that can't be shipped overseas will be donated to Water Street Rescue Mission.

Other contributors who have helped in the past include The Donegal Group in Marietta, E-Z Solutions in Lancaster, Millersville VFW Post 7294, SME Foods of York and Eagle Scout Troop 102 of Lancaster, as well as Wild Bill's and Big John's in Lancaster, which make beef jerky. They'll be contributing — no surprise — beef jerky.

"The beef jerky is very popular, because it keeps so well," Strathmeyer said. "I used it on my first tour to keep the dogs busy while on foot patrols in the villages. It kept them from barking and chasing us."

Strathmeyer said that Boxes of Hope sent by Ross and her team of volunteers will lift the spirits of U.S. soldiers. "Any time a soldier receives something from home, it means a great deal," Strathmeyer said. "Getting something from home gives them that little piece of comfort and reminds them of better times. It shows the troops here that people at home are thinking of them."

To find out more about donating to or volunteering for Boxes of Hope, contact Ross at boxesofhope@comcast.net.