A funeral home parlor filled with 337 overflowing Christmas stockings is an unusual sight — but that’s exactly what could be found Tuesday at Paul Funeral Home in Washington.

The abundance of goodies was the result the funeral home’s request for the community’s assistance with ‘Stockings for Soldiers,’ a project started by NCPacks4Patriots to provide holiday gifts for U.S. troops and their family members.

Bobby Hodges, president of Paul Funeral Home, said the idea came from other funeral homes that had partnered with NCPacks4Patriots.

“We wanted to do this to help our active duty soldiers: men, women and canines,” Hodges said, adding that many of Paul Funeral Home’s employees had served in the military.

The funeral home placed three ads in the paper explaining the project and calling for volunteers to stop by, pick up a stocking (or several) and purchase suggested items for soldiers with which to fill it: toiletries, snacks, sports equipment, DVDs, batteries, socks, body wash, towels and more. For the canine soldiers serving across the world, stockings are stuffed with dog treats, brushes, small throw blankets, tennis balls and other toys. Responding to the call for assistance were Girl Scouts, civic groups, churches, schools, businesses and individuals who returned the stockings by Monday’s cutoff date, some with boxes filled with an overflow of gifts.

“Lots of people brought the stockings back with extra things because they just couldn’t fit them in there,” Hodges said.

“We had absolutely no idea we would get the response we’ve gotten,” said Norm Koestline, a staff member.

NCPack4Patriots’ stated mission is to support troops and their families “by providing comfort items and expressions of appreciation for their service and sacrifice.” Hodges said it was the appeal of showing that appreciation in a tangible way that inspired the overwhelming response.

“If you are in the military and away from your family, it makes a difference,” said Lawrence Mallard, also part of the Paul Funeral Home staff.

From Paul Funeral Home, the stockings were delivered to Ayden on Tuesday. From there, they will be shipped across the world, including to those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the funeral home paid for the stockings and the shipping, Hodges said the real work was done by others.

“They’ve done it all. We just put it together,” Hodges said. “We couldn’t have done it without the community working together.”