Soldier Christmas Cards Sent Across the World
All it might take are a few Christmas cards to brighten a soldier’s day.
Have you realized how many American troops get called to serve in the military each year? It is thousands, and these men and women leave their families for long periods of time without knowing when they will return. When the troops leave they do not get to bring much with them or keep
anything to remind them of their families back at home. Since many soldiers do not receive mail or packages from friends or family very often, teachers and students of Sweet Home High School decided to ask students to write Christmas cards to our soldiers.
Mrs. Mehltretter, a teaching aide who works in the Alternative Education Program with Mrs. Lehman, has two sons and a daughter-in-law currently serving in the military. In fact, one of her sons was recently deployed to Afghanistan. As a result, Mrs. Mehltretter originated the idea of sending Christmas cards to soldiers. The goal was to collect a minimum of 50 cards written in at least two languages. In all, 144 cards were collected, nearly tripling the original goal.
Many students were involved in this project and handled special duties. For example, Corra Semanski, Jasmine Jones, Michael Frears, and Corey Orlando decorated the desk, which was in the 200 hallway in front of Mrs. Lehman’s classroom, made posters, and manned the mail desk before homeroom each period. They also reviewed and sorted the cards for mailings.
The soldier Christmas cards were collected between November 16th and the 26th, and then were sent out to parts of Iraq and Afghanistan. When Mrs. Mchltretter thought about the idea of sending the cards to our American soldiers, she was not worried about where she would get the funds. It turned out that teachers and our principal, Mrs. Reinholz, donated most of the cards while Mrs. Lehman covered the cost of postage.
We, the students and teachers of Sweet Home High School, hope that the soldiers will appreciate their cards and realize even though they are far away from us, they are still thought about and cared for back at home. We’re hoping all it takes is a few Christmas cards to brighten their day.
This article by Marie Reyes was digitized in accordance with the Eye’s archival policy. The original PDF is available here.
Chukwudi, better known as Chudy, has been Editor-in-Chief since his sophomore year and has worked on the newspaper since his freshman year. His main focus is editing of articles, social media, and managing the website.