CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — On Tuesday, Moody High School's Junior ROTC program received a new trailer from the Flour Bluff VFW Post 8932.
Cadets Phil De La Garza and Hailey Humphrey told 3NEWS the donation is an appreciated upgrade that brings the program a new sense of pride.
"It mean a lot considering also that it was a donation because I remember since freshman year loading those boxes into a bus," De La Garza said.
"It gives us pride for our unit," Humphrey said. "The other schools they have their own trailers, they pull up in charter buses; they're confident. They have pride in what they do. We pull up in a yellow bus and we have to haul the boxes."
The new trailer is worth more than $6,000.
Head of the JROTC program at Moody, Lt. Cmdr. Luis Sanchez, said his VFW post didn't hesitate to work on getting him and his students what they needed.
"After 27 years in the Navy, providing for these kids, especially these Moody kids, it means so much," Sanchez said.
Donor and veteran Jerry Plemons expressed how happy he was to give back to the organization that shaped him when he was in high school and helped prepare him for his career in the military.
"It brought me back to my days when I was in CCISD, I was in JROTC over at Ray High School, and it meant the world to me at the time," Plemons said. "In JROTC they teach you so many life skills that you don't get any other place, and it led me to a military career."
"Eventually these young men and young ladies become the workforce of the future, so yes when they come in and recognize that and they spend their time here, they get to see that we have a lot of great kids here at Foyd Moody High School," Moody Principal Dr. Enrique Vela said.
Cadet Julian Garcia said they look forward to using it for first time at their Sept. 19 competition.
"We've been working a long time for this. With the help of the VFW and our other sponsors it was finally a dream come true," Garcia said. "It makes it at ease, our competition to load our equipment and stuff and leave in style too."