South School craft some cards
Published on February 14th, 2007
STONEHAM, MA - South School pre-school teacher Suzanne Thistle and her classes of children simply wanted to do something for a Stoneham resident stationed in Iraq - and their collective efforts have turned a tiny idea into something much bigger.
Thistle coordinated efforts with the Colonial Park and South School pre-school classes to craft Valentine's and then send the cards - along with care packages full of DVD's, toothbrushes and others assorted items - over to soldiers stationed in Iraq.
"Jennifer Callahan is a neighbor of one of the preschool parents and she is currently serving as a nurse over in Iraq," said Thistle, who spent six years as a speech therapist before taking over the preschool. "She relayed to the parents that the soldiers really weren't getting a lot of mail and correspondence, and that was something that really lifted their spirits and helped them do their jobs."
So Thistle and roughly 150 Stoneham preschool children spent a week making Valentines that went out in the mail earlier this week. The colorful pink and red Valentine's had simple messages like "Thanks for being so brave and courageous and protecting me and my family" or simply "Our thoughts are with you...Will you be my Valentine?"
Thistle said that some of the kids are still working on understanding the Valentine's Day concept, but that it did the children good to feel like they were doing something to help the troops overseas.
"This is something they really got excited about as we got into making the Valentines," added Thistle.
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