Reed Student Receives First Response

From Valentines For Troops Program

By Eliza Hallabeck

Nearly one month since US Army Specialist Faith Schwabe penned a letter to Reed Intermediate School sixth grader Zoe Lloyd, the student was preparing to write her own response back on Monday, March 21.

“I am from a small town called Scituate in Rhode Island,” wrote Specialist Schwabe.

When Zoe received the letter from her teacher, Valerie Pagano-Hepburn, “she just told me that I got a letter,” said Zoe.

Later the Reed student learned she was the first at the school to receive a response from a letter she wrote through the Valentines For Troops program.

“I thought it was cool we could talk to real soldiers,” said Zoe, reflecting on what she thought of the Valentines For Troops program.

This was the first year Zoe has participated in the local effort to send troops serving overseas special thanks for Valentine’s Day. 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. Students have the choice to list a return address to the school, which was what Zoe did.

While the effort has predominantly been directed toward students in the past, coordinator Donna Monteleone 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.

Volunteers and students worked on January 29 to send this year’s Valentines for the Troops out from Reed. Other schools, organizations, and groups sent their packages and letters to soldiers out at other times.

Zoe said she enjoyed receiving Specialist Schwabe’s letter because both enjoy the same sports, baseball, basketball, and cheerleading.

When she received her letter from Specialist Schwabe, Zoe said she felt “excited, because no one else got one. It makes me feel special.”

Zoe’s mother, Stacey, said Zoe came home that day excited, and shared the “sweet letter” with the family.

“I am the middle of seven kids. I have three sisters and three brothers between ages 28 and 6,” wrote Specialist Schwabe to Zoe. “I know they are missing me, because I am missing them so much. This is the longest I have been away. I only graduated high school in summer 2009. So I am only 19. I gave up a lot when I made [the] choice to join the Army, but it was worth it to me when I know people at home like you and your classmates support and appreciate what we do over here.”

Zoe was one of “easily 3,000” students who wrote letters through the Valentines For Troops program this year, Ms Randle says.

While Zoe was the first at Reed to receive a response from the campaign to send valentines to troops serving overseas, Ms Randle said effort organizers have been receiving many responses.

“We got lots of stuff back from a hospital in Kuwait,” said Ms Randle, describing just one of the many locations where boxes were shipped to troops.

One “thank you” that stood out to Ms Randle came from Lieutenant Commander Marc Hanson based on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson based out of San Diego.

 LCDR Hanson wrote Ms Randle an e-mail thanking both the Valentines For Troops effort and Greg Van Antwerp of Charter Communications for organizing a collection of DVDs and sending them to the USS Carl Vinson.

“Currently we’ve been underway for over 50 days and aren’t quite sure when we’ll be seeing solid ground again,” wrote LCDR Hanson. “The days are monotonous and pretty much the same so the ability to lose ourselves in a movie or TV show is a welcome addition.”

Ms Randle also said a new effort is under way now between Valentines For Troops and Newtown Girl Scout Troop 50764. The troop has been busy selling cookies and collecting money to buy cookies for troops. Ms Randle says the troop now has enough money to purchase 200 cases of cookies to send. In conjunction with Hawleyville Postmaster Mark Favale. the effort has determined a donation of $10 will send a case to troops overseas.

Resident Donna Mangiafico is handling the donations. Anyone interested in donating to the cause can contact her at 203-270-1919 or e-mail djmangiafico@aol.com. For more information about the Valentines For Troops contact Donna Monteleone Randle at 203-364-9772 or at ndrandle@charter.net.

Charter 21 will also be airing a special ceremony held at Reed Intermediate School last month as a finale for the 2011 Valentines For Troops effort. That special will air on Sunday, March 27, and Sunday, April 3, at 1 pm and at 7 pm.