Pupils share Valentine's wishes with U.S. troops
BY TOYNETT HALL Staff Writer

HOWELL - Second-graders at the Ramtown Elementary School want America's servicemen and servicewomen to know they are not forgotten on Valentine's Day. The pupils recently sent hand-made greeting cards to U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.

The idea of sending cards to the soldiers began in Georgette Johnson's second grade class. According to Johnson, class mother Martha Solomon wanted to engage the children in a different initiative for Valentine's Day.

Once the other second-grade classes in the school caught wind of what was taking place the idea took off.

The Ramtown children created Valentine's Day cards which carried messages such as "Thank you for saving our country," "I thought you needed some cheering up because of the bad war" and "Thank you for going to war for us." Hearts and stickers adorned the cards.

Kathy Reidy from the Association of the United States Army, Fort Monmouth Chapter, accepted the cards from the pupils on behalf of the soldiers. This chapter of the AUSA, which pledges to "continue to make deployments a little more comfortable," paid for the postage to have the cards shipped to the soldiers.

Second-grade teacher Cindy Imperiale said the Valentine's Day project taught the children to "pay it forward."

"This effort instills values in the children and shows them there are people outside of their home. It also helps them to show gratitude, express manners and it makes them aware of their outside surroundings," Imperiale said.

According to Johnson, the program was not only a community service effort, but it sparked a conversation about diversity and emphasized the concept that freedom is not free.

"There are men and women fighting for our freedom. This initiative was a perfect opportunity to talk about different countries," Johnson said, "especially countries where their concept of freedom differs from ours."

Zachary Knowles, 8, said he enjoyed the project. Zachary said he hopes his card makes a soldier happy. According to Zachary, his card has stickers and "I love you" written all over it.

Amanda Tran, 8, said this was a "really great thing to do for the troops. Loving people is the best thing for us to do."

Principal Laurie Zickler said the Valentine's Day project emphasized how important it is to give something back to other people.

"It helps the children to gain empathy and to understand the feelings of others and what they are experiencing. It also promotes an understanding of world events and encourages the children to step outside of themselves and give something back to the people who are putting their lives on the line for others," Zickler said.