Students Support Injured Soldiers

Through Media Drive

By Larissa Lytwyn

 As American troops continue their challenging missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, St Rose Student Council President Meagan Kelly has become all too familiar with the gritty images of battle on the evening news.

“Also, my brothers’ friend from high school is currently in training, so I know [the stories],” Meagan said. “Then I heard about the high numbers of badly injured soldiers recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. A lot of them missed the comfort of what we take for granted, like our favorite books, movies, and music.”

Meagan thought of doing a special “media drive” for the soldiers, and made it a central platform of her campaign for the Student Council’s President’s chair last month.

She won the coveted position.

Almost immediately, the newly elected council tackled the project.

“We sent out letters to all the students schoolwide,” said the council’s advisor, history teacher Joe DeMaida. “The response was incredible!”

Within just the last two weeks, the council has amassed more than a half-dozen crates and bags of books, DVDs, videos, and CDs.

“I think what was really impressive was seeing how many people bought new items for the drive,” said council representative Peter Walsh.

Meagan agreed.

“I thought that most people were just going to donate old movies or books that they didn’t really go through anymore,” she said. “But a good deal of what we received is brand new!”

Soldiers will enjoy a variety of viewing choices, including a six-video set of Hitchcock classics, recent comedies like Rush Hour or screwball classics like gift sets of I Love Lucy and The Three Stooges.

The music collected also reflected a variety of tastes, from a Bluegrass Gospel album to classic rock staples like Pink Floyd’s The Wall.

Books ranged from Michael Crichton and Mary Higgins Clark thrillers to Alice Sebold’s widely acclaimed The Lovely Bones.

“It felt great to do something that was a little bit different,” said council representative Christine D’Alessandro. “We didn’t want to do something that would compete with the many other holiday drives that happen at this time of year, such as Toys For Tots and other projects.”

The media drive is only the latest of St Rose School’s ongoing effort to support American troops abroad.

“Over the past year or so, every class has written poems and letters to deployed troops,” said Mr DeMaida.

“You hear a lot about the soldiers who are killed, but not about the ones that are injured,” said Meagan’s mother, parent volunteer Karen Kelly. “The soldiers at Walter Reed have been severely injured. We’re talking about things like amputees. It’s important to remember them, too.”

Christine said the drive further raised her awareness of the often-harrowing challenges the soldiers face each day.

“Recently, on television, I saw a special about a man who had actually given himself a shot of morphine to keep from passing out from the pain after he was shot in the leg,” she said. “It’s amazing, the stories [the soldiers] tell. It’s amazing to think about what they have gone through, what they have survived!”

The Student Council members agreed that the media drive was just one small thing they could do to support them.