Treats for Troops

We are ready to kick off our first school-wide service project this year! Our Treats for Troops event has two parts:

First, we are collecting cards, pictures, and letters for U.S. troops overseas from now through November 5. Many teachers may give their students time to do this as a class project, but we are also inviting students and families to write as many pieces of mail as they'd like at home. They can be from kids or adults, and should be addressed to "A U.S. Soldier" or "An American Solider." Many of our troops would just love to know that someone is thinking about them back home and is supportive of the work that they do. Any tiny reminder of home is very meaningful to them. You do not need to put your pages in an envelope, and you do not have to sign your name or your last name if you'd prefer to be more anonymous for safety's sake! If you'd like to participate, please have your child bring your family's pages to me at school.

Secondly, from November 1 - November 5, we will collect "treats" for the troops. The idea is that our students can choose pieces of their own Halloween candy to send overseas to our soldiers. The best things to mail are those that cannot melt, like hard candy, fruit-flavored candy, lollipops, fruit roll-ups, etc. We hope this will make the service project more personally meaningful to our children by giving them the opportunity to donate something of their own.

Treats for Troops is the first of 3 planned school-wide service projects this year. Next will be Valentines for Veterans in February, and then probably an environmentally-focused clean-up day in April. We are not planning to hold a food drive or stocking stuffer drive this year- instead we are going to focus on acts of service that the children can be more directly involved in and see how that goes. THANK YOU very much for your support of projects like this- we hope they are meaningful and enjoyable for your family!