thedrifter
12-09-05, 07:06 AM
Wayne teens write to Marines in Iraq
Friday, December 9, 2005
By MARGARET K. COLLINS
STAFF WRITER
WAYNE
A college student from Wayne motivated hundreds of high school students to stop text messaging, e-mailing and instant messaging and - gasp - write a letter.
Kristen Shaw, 19, asked students at Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley high schools to send holiday greetings to U.S. troops in Iraq. She received 442 letters - 40 more than when Shaw started the tradition last year. The correspondence added to millions of pounds of letters and packages that post offices are shipping to servicemen and women around the world at this time of year.
"As a soldier, you're away from your family at the holiday time," Shaw said. "I just thought it would be cool if not only the mothers and brothers were sending mail but also young people. As a young person you get caught up. I wanted to bring the two high schools together in a community effort."
The bulk of mail will be delivered to soldiers serving with the 2nd Battalion of the 6th Marines in Iraq. Two soldiers in the unit are graduates from Shaw's high school class at Wayne Valley. Shaw asked that their names not be released because, she said, she wants the delivery to be a surprise.
A business administration major at Ramapo College, Shaw started her "Letters to the Military" project by contacting the high school English departments. She asked participating teachers to proofread the letters and have them ready by Thanksgiving week.
About 100 students in Kirsten Damiani's English classes at Wayne Valley participated.
"So many of my students were anxious and excited to send letters and Sudoku puzzles to the soldiers," Damiani said. "Young adults are willing to help others; they just need to be told what they can do to help."
Both Damiani and Wayne Hills English teacher Donna Del Moro said letter
writing is a foreign concept to most of their students.
Wayne Hills senior Karla Krause couldn't remember the last time she corresponded by "snail mail."
"Like an actual letter? Not an e-mail? I have no idea," Krause said. "I remember having a pen pal in the third grade."
Despite the unfamiliar territory, Krause said she enjoyed typing her one-page correspondence to an unknown soldier. Most of the students, teachers said, described themselves, wished the soldiers a happy holiday and thanked them for their service.
"Whether you believe in the war or not," said Wayne Valley senior Jason Dubnoff in an e-mail, "everybody from Wayne and all across America care and show their support. This assignment was a great way to show my support as well as my peers."
During the holiday season, letters mailed to troops overseas increase by 25 percent - to an average of 18,750 a day - said Joanne Veto, spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service.
Last year Americans mailed 10.5 million pounds of letters and packages to military troops overseas in the seven-week period, she said, and she expects the same amount this year.
Post offices feed mail for Army and Air Force members serving overseas to the Air/Army Post Office (APO). Navy and Marine mail goes to the Fleet Post Office (FPO) in California and is shipped out from there. To ensure your letters reach the soldiers in time, the Postal Service suggests getting them out by Saturday.
Shaw unloaded the hundreds of letters in the Wayne post office on Valley Road. The manager there, Leslie McAlister, said mail to Iraq and Afghanistan comes in all year long, but the rush started at the end of November.
"We're getting a lot of mail for the soldiers now because it's Christmas," McAlister said.
The small post office on Valley Road, one of five in Wayne, received 31 packages weighing over five pounds for the soldiers. And that's just for packages above four pounds.
The huge stack of receipts for smaller packages numbers in the hundreds.
Records show people sent makeup, snacks, hair coloring, Christmas stockings, Oreo cookies, magazines and more. Toiletries - such as travel-sized deodorant and toothpaste - are especially popular, McAlister said.
For Krause, the letter writing project made her stop and think.
"I have my family and my friends for the holidays," she said. "I'm not getting an 8-by-11 piece of paper from some girl. It made me appreciate everything a lot more."
E-mail: collinsp@northjersey.com
Ellie
Friday, December 9, 2005
By MARGARET K. COLLINS
STAFF WRITER
WAYNE
A college student from Wayne motivated hundreds of high school students to stop text messaging, e-mailing and instant messaging and - gasp - write a letter.
Kristen Shaw, 19, asked students at Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley high schools to send holiday greetings to U.S. troops in Iraq. She received 442 letters - 40 more than when Shaw started the tradition last year. The correspondence added to millions of pounds of letters and packages that post offices are shipping to servicemen and women around the world at this time of year.
"As a soldier, you're away from your family at the holiday time," Shaw said. "I just thought it would be cool if not only the mothers and brothers were sending mail but also young people. As a young person you get caught up. I wanted to bring the two high schools together in a community effort."
The bulk of mail will be delivered to soldiers serving with the 2nd Battalion of the 6th Marines in Iraq. Two soldiers in the unit are graduates from Shaw's high school class at Wayne Valley. Shaw asked that their names not be released because, she said, she wants the delivery to be a surprise.
A business administration major at Ramapo College, Shaw started her "Letters to the Military" project by contacting the high school English departments. She asked participating teachers to proofread the letters and have them ready by Thanksgiving week.
About 100 students in Kirsten Damiani's English classes at Wayne Valley participated.
"So many of my students were anxious and excited to send letters and Sudoku puzzles to the soldiers," Damiani said. "Young adults are willing to help others; they just need to be told what they can do to help."
Both Damiani and Wayne Hills English teacher Donna Del Moro said letter
writing is a foreign concept to most of their students.
Wayne Hills senior Karla Krause couldn't remember the last time she corresponded by "snail mail."
"Like an actual letter? Not an e-mail? I have no idea," Krause said. "I remember having a pen pal in the third grade."
Despite the unfamiliar territory, Krause said she enjoyed typing her one-page correspondence to an unknown soldier. Most of the students, teachers said, described themselves, wished the soldiers a happy holiday and thanked them for their service.
"Whether you believe in the war or not," said Wayne Valley senior Jason Dubnoff in an e-mail, "everybody from Wayne and all across America care and show their support. This assignment was a great way to show my support as well as my peers."
During the holiday season, letters mailed to troops overseas increase by 25 percent - to an average of 18,750 a day - said Joanne Veto, spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service.
Last year Americans mailed 10.5 million pounds of letters and packages to military troops overseas in the seven-week period, she said, and she expects the same amount this year.
Post offices feed mail for Army and Air Force members serving overseas to the Air/Army Post Office (APO). Navy and Marine mail goes to the Fleet Post Office (FPO) in California and is shipped out from there. To ensure your letters reach the soldiers in time, the Postal Service suggests getting them out by Saturday.
Shaw unloaded the hundreds of letters in the Wayne post office on Valley Road. The manager there, Leslie McAlister, said mail to Iraq and Afghanistan comes in all year long, but the rush started at the end of November.
"We're getting a lot of mail for the soldiers now because it's Christmas," McAlister said.
The small post office on Valley Road, one of five in Wayne, received 31 packages weighing over five pounds for the soldiers. And that's just for packages above four pounds.
The huge stack of receipts for smaller packages numbers in the hundreds.
Records show people sent makeup, snacks, hair coloring, Christmas stockings, Oreo cookies, magazines and more. Toiletries - such as travel-sized deodorant and toothpaste - are especially popular, McAlister said.
For Krause, the letter writing project made her stop and think.
"I have my family and my friends for the holidays," she said. "I'm not getting an 8-by-11 piece of paper from some girl. It made me appreciate everything a lot more."
E-mail: collinsp@northjersey.com
Ellie