Valentines Sent To Troops

By Newtown Schools

Schools in Newtown finished sending out Valentines for Troops this week, wrapping up the local effort to send troops serving overseas special thanks during the Valentine’s Day season.

Reed Intermediate School sent out its letters and collected items for troops on Friday, January 28, St Rose of Lima and Sandy Hook School both sent letters to the troops out on Friday, February 11, and Hawley Elementary School sent letters for the effort to troops Monday, February 14, Valentine’s Day.

Valentines For Troops Project Chair Donna Monteleone Randle has said the local effort to send troops serving oversees special thanks for Valentine’s Day was a full community effort this year.

While the effort has predominantly been directed toward students in the past, Ms Randle, a former US Army Captain, Signal Corps, said this year adult groups and after school groups also joined the effort.

Schools from several neighboring towns, including Danbury, also participated this year. Several area houses of worship also signed on, including Trinity Episcopal, Christ the King Lutheran, Newtown United Methodist, Newtown Congregational, Faith at Newtown, and Congregation Adath Israel. Other groups involved with the project include the Connecticut National Guard Family Support Group in Hartford, Blue Star Mothers, and the local VFW.

Each year volunteers work to find and list addresses of deployed personnel to send letters and care packages to, and later work to help proofread and pack the letters and care packages for shipment overseas, to places like Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan, and to ships at sea.

For more information on the Valentines For Troops project, log in to Facebook and search for the effort’s page, “ Valentines For Troops, Newtown, CT.”