From Tammy Workman
To the Editor:
I am hear to share another good news story with you about The American Legion Auxiliary unit 81 of Pine Grove W.Va. and the Short Line School in Reader W.Va. The Auxiliary unit decided to purchase 600 pocket flags this year to send to our Troops.
I asked Mr. Lively, a second grade teacher at Shortline school, if he thought the whole school would like to write letters or draw pictures for us to send out with the flags and the turn out was great.
Last year grades Kindergarten through fourth participated and we sent out 300 letters and this year we sent out close to 600 from grades Kindergarten through eighth, which have been sent out all over the World. Children: a note to you that your letters are in the hands of American Soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Korea, Diego Garcia, Air Force base in Texas and Navy Port in New York and Pennsylvania. The officer I sent to in Texas is going to forward some of them on to soldiers stationed in Iraq.
Responses that I have from the men and women I sent them to are. “This is so awesome,” and “Everyone will try to respond to each letter.” Another response was “It sure is great to not be forgotten being so far away.” One group mentioned that they were so happy to just sit around sharing all the letters and planning to send some pictures with their responses. One asked when school was out here because he will be coming home from Afghanistan in May and he and some of his comrades would like to visit the kids and answer some of their questions personally.
This small school and auxiliary unit, in the past two years, have reached out to 900 American soldiers currently serving active duty. Mr. Lively and Mrs. Nolan have been wonderful in helping me to become more active with the school and promoting Americanism, Patriotism, Community Service and (National Security, which in our Auxiliary program’s means anything we do concerning our Enlisted Military).
Everyone in the community was involved in this project because the money to purchase the flags and cover shipping costs came from our fundraisers; I truly think that the soldiers enjoyed hearing from the children because that comes straight from the heart and no gift is greater than that.
The soldiers who received these packages are from these areas of West Virginia: Short Line, Paden City, Friendly, Mercer, Pa.; Morgantown, and Sardis, Ohio.
Tammy Workman, ALA unit 81 President
Pine Grove