JOSHUA — Members of the Joshua High School Naval Junior ROTC stay as busy as bees this time of year.

They don’t stay busy as bees solely learning military skills.

That’s not what Joshua NJROTC is about.

“We teach military history, how to march, and how to put together a uniform,” said Joshua naval science instructor Charlie Linville. “Our main goal is teaching good citizenship, how to help your fellow man. Out of each graduating class here, there may be one or two students go into the military. The rest go out into the community. We hope they practice the skills we taught them.”

During the Christmas season, that translates to working and giving for 102 Joshua NJROTC students who joined with Joshua Lions Club and Brookshire’s Food Store in Joshua to help feed the needy.

Linville, a retired Navy master chief, oversees the teens’ efforts.

Senior Maeghan Bush, in her second year as community service officer for the unit, is the organizer.

“We’ve been doing the Christmas food drive since 1995 in some form,” Linville said. “The last few years it’s been done with Lions Club and Brookshire’s. It seems to work best that way. There’s a small food drive at Thanksgiving. We start working on the Christmas food drive after we get back from Thanksgiving. This is when we gather most of the food.”

“The whole food drive is a community effort,” Bush said. “We collect canned food from all the schools in our district. Each school has a box for donations. My job is to organize the donated food into boxes and get them ready to be handed to families. We take the boxes of food to First United Methodist Church of Joshua. Brookshire’s donates a turkey to go with every box. Lions Club delivers food to us so we can get it ready in the boxes.

“Everything ends up at First Methodist. They have a food pantry and distribute to those in need.”

“Brookshire’s has a $5 and $7 donation. The donor buys the $5 or $7 bag of canned food, and the food is brought to us for processing,” Linville added.

Even in an economic downturn, community response to the food drive has been positive.

“Our goal was to take 85 boxes of food to First United Methodist,” Linville said. “We delivered 116 boxes [on Tuesday], and we’re getting more food brought to us today. We want to be finished by Thursday, but we’ll have food brought to us Friday, too. We’ll take it to the church for their food pantry. The need doesn’t stop after Dec. 25. If there’s food left over after Christmas, that’s good.”

Besides canned food, Bush said, donors have contributed noodle-soup ingredients, macaroni and cheese, rice and beans and corn-bread mixes.

“We take anything that’s nonperishable,” she said.

“We try to stay away from items with a short shelf life,” Linville said.

Through the process, the students learn what it’s like to give, Linville said. Students also learn that many people are needy.

“We had a couple of kids ask why we were doing a canned food drive,” Bush said. “When we told them, they wanted to know where the food was going. They were like, ‘You mean there are people in Joshua who really need food?’ Yes, there are.”

“What a lot of people don’t realize is that some of the families who receive food have children who go to Joshua schools,” Linville added. “There is a need locally. There are people in the community who benefit greatly from the efforts of others.”

“We enjoy the experience of helping others,” Bush said. “It’s a lot of work but a lot of satisfaction. Pretty much the whole unit helps, doing everything from gathering to carrying boxes.”

As for Bush, it’s a labor of love.

“I’ve always enjoyed community service and helping people,” she said. “If you offered me any job in this unit, that would be the one I’d take.”

Joshua’s NJROTC is active year-round.

“We assist with the First Street Methodist Shelter in Fort Worth,” Linville said. “The mother of one of our cadets directs it. We spend at least one day every year helping them, organizing the pantry, and putting clothes on shelves.”

The unit adopted four miles of Highway 174 for picking up debris, though the state only acknowledged the NJROTC for patrolling two miles.

“We have another [clean-up day] scheduled after the first of the year,” Linville said. “The kids enjoy it, and it gives them an experience in serving. Some of the jobs aren’t as pleasant as others, but it takes all of us.

“Right now, we’re also trying to get involved in Habitat for Humanity. We’ve been to Colonial Manor nursing home in Cleburne to do a flag presentation for veterans. We do color guard functions at churches. We did the Cleburne rodeo last summer.

“We have things going on even when school isn’t in session. We try to stay involved.”