“We should never forget our veterans. The people who fought for this country, that’s what this whole thing is about,” said Ashton McGriff, the local Bradford youth who put in the individual effort to help raise donations for veterans at the VA Hospital in Erie.

Earlier in the summer, McGriff partnered herself with the “Totes of Hope” service of the American Red Cross which collects donations of everyday essentials for veterans. She planned on raising at least $1,000 in donations when she first started, and was absolutely shocked when the final results came in.

With over $2,000 raised in donations, twice as much as she expected, McGriff is calling her project to help local veterans an “absolute success.” She was able to use the donation money to buy necessities that the veterans may need that include anything from clothes to medical equipment.

On Tuesday, she distributed the totes to each veteran personally, and they thanked her with kind words and hugs.

“They deserve to feel appreciated,” McGriff said. “And I think that this project, with the support from the community, helped spread that feeling in the hospital.”

McGriff said although this project got a lot of recognition, she wants people to know that it doesn’t take a big donation project to help.

“I plan on going there on the weekends just to talk and listen to them,” McGriff said. “We could be doing so much more for them, but we can start small.”

As for her Totes of Hopes project, McGriff plans on making it an annual event.

“We got so much support from the community on this,” McGriff said. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind doing it every year. I sure don’t.”