When sixth grade students at Hilton's Northwood Elementary School heard that children in Iraq were walking barefoot through the hot desert sand, they decided to do something to help. That’s how Operation Flip Flop was born.

The sixth graders took the idea of supplying Iraqi children with flip flops and ran with it. They put up posters, sent home flyers and made donation boxes that were placed throughout the school.

In just a week and a half, the students have collected around 160 pairs of flip flops.

"Their hearts are huge and I'm excited when I look at these students and I think about the future of our country,” said sixth grade teacher Laura Mayer. “These are our future leaders and they're going to go out with a heart for others, wanting to help, wanting to contribute to those in need. And it makes me excited about what we have here in America and what we're going to see here in the future."

Some of the kids say their parents went out and purchased flip flops to donate. Others bought multiple pairs with their own money.

"That makes me feel like I did more to help the cause not just using my parent’s money but my own money that I earned," said Josh, a Northwood sixth grader.

Pat Romansky is on the staff at Northwood Elementary. Her son John is serving his first tour in Iraq.

John Romansky told his mother about the Iraqi children wrapping rags on their feet to protect them from the hot sand. Pat believes that John's compassion for those children stems from being a married 40-year-old with a child of his own.

"I'm sure that seeing children over there in Iraq brings back thoughts of his daughter Makayla and how he would feel if she didn't have shoes to wear,” Pat explained. “So I think a lot of that comes back."

Students say hearing how John Romansky wants to help the children of Iraq has changed their perception of American soldiers.

"You think about soldiers fighting and everything,” sixth grade student Nina said. “But they realize that when they see a kid where they're fighting they think about how their life is, that they don't have any shoes or clothes, or maybe they have old clothes that were donated to them. So they might feel happy that maybe they could help."

Operation Flip Flop will continue at Northwood Elementary through the end of September.

"If the community wants to help they can also help by bringing in flip flops to Northwood on North Greece Road,” Samiah, a sixth grader said. “There will be a flip flop box in the main lobby."

This isn’t the first time students at Northwood Elementary have helped others. Principal Kirk Ashton said they raised $11,000 for various charities last school year.

Northwood Elementary School