U.S. service men and women will receive a special thank you during the holidays from Warren Middle School students.
Language arts teacher Brenda Sasso took special note when the radio station she listens to announced earlier this month that it had partnered with the USO to send 100,000 thank you cards to overseas troops.
“I thought it would be great for Warren Middle School to get involved in this great cause,” she says. “The students have done a fantastic job. There are many, many beautiful and heartfelt cards.”
Sasso mailed more than 200 handmade cards to the Nashville, Tennessee station, Nash FM 94.7, whose morning co-hosts Ty Bentli, Chuck Wicks and Kelly Ford have seen cards flooding into the local post office from schools and organizations across the country.
A Nov. 21 post on the show’s Facebook page reads: “When the #100thankyous mail is never ending! THANK YOU! It’s gonna take us a bit to count all these letters… Thank goodness for our partners, the USO and United Rentals, who will be helping us ship ALL of this!”
Additionally, honoring our nation’s veterans was the subject of a recent essay contest by the Watchung-Warren Rotary Club. Angelo L. Tomaso School fifth grader Jared Weiss and Central School fifth grader Trisha Atianzar won 2nd and 3rd place, respectively, for their essays on “The Importance of Remembering Veterans Day.” Both were invited to attend a Rotary luncheon on Nov. 21 to read their essays and receive a Barnes and Noble gift card.
“Veterans are heroes because they show tremendous bravery by putting themselves in dangerous situations. Soldiers are willing to not live with their families and travel long periods of time so that we can live safe and free,” writes Weiss in an excerpt from his 2nd place award-winning prose. “…Veterans Day is an especially important day to me because my great grandpa is a veteran. He served in Poland during World War II. He fought in an underground army against the Nazis.”
An excerpt from Atianzar’s essay reads: “… To imagine our lives in danger or living away from our loved ones is hard to imagine, right? But the brave ones left their safe and welcoming home for the country they loved much more. While we are safe and sound tucked into our bed, there are soldiers serving our country to their last ounce of strength.”
