Student Contributor -E.Bradley
I partnered with Any Soldier and picked a Marine who requested some items be sent to him and 8 other Marines who are currently in Iraq. My students and their families donated some items to be sent. The students made small care packages for each of the 9 Marines and wrote a letter to be sent to them.
I first explained the project to my students, I explained that we would be writing a letter to a service member that is deployed and far away from home. I told the students that I picked this civic engagement because my husband was in the Marines and when he was deployed and received care packages he was very appreciative. I asked the students if they knew anyone in the service to make it more personable for them. The next time I was in the classroom we wrote a sample letter together were we thanked the service member
and added some personal facts about the student. The following week we put the students into pairs and they went “shopping” at a table in the back of the room and the students added goodies to their bag. Once the bags were done, I mailed them to the Marine who’s information I got on anysoldier.com Most of the students knew someone in the service and seemed to realize how happy a service member would be to get a package. This was a service to the community because we got to give back to the troops who serve our country, students can give back to those away from their families by providing some comforts from home.
Getting donations was tricky I went to Yokes and Safeway said they had to talk to their corporate offices and would most likely donate. I never heard back from them. I think if teacher want donations from stores they should ask weeks, even months before the actual assignment so they know how much product they will have to make the bags. The parents in my classroom did donate, but not very much. I bought most of the stuff myself. The letter writing aspect was a little tricky, I would suggest the teacher to go line by line and focus on punctuation, spelling and the letter layout. The partner shopping trip went well, the kids picked their favorite candies to put in the bags for the troops, I felt that way the kid would be invested and have a personal connection.
Letter writing in general is such a fun task for any individual, but then you add in veterans and kids with hug hearts and it is a homemade recipe of success every time! As you can tell many teachers have done this and many more will to the only difference is the end result looks and occasionally what organization you want to work with. I selected to work with Operation Gratitude instead of my civic project, but they work just like this student’s organization. We did not create care packages but instead wrote cards on real notecards to send to veterans deployed. We also really focused on the components of writing a friendly letter (mini writing lesson integration!), date, greeting. body, closing, signature.