Sandy Hook Elementary School’s PTA Valentines For Troops committee had already made efforts to pack letters, toiletries, chocolate, and Girl Scout cookies provided by Newtown VFW Post 308 together in packages by the time students entered the school’s lecture hall on Tuesday, February 10.

Students from across the school had participated in writing exercises to create the letters, and some of the school’s students were selected to help Newtown Post Office City Carrier Chris Myers and Customer Service Manager Richard Crowther on Tuesday to prepare the packages to be shipped to an Army Infantry Division in Afghanistan.

Each year, the Valentines For Troops effort finds and lists addresses of deployed personnel to which letters and care packages are sent. Letters written by local students and other participants are later proofread and packed with care packages for shipment overseas, to places like Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan, and ships at sea.

Valentines for Troops Chairperson Donna Monteleone Randle said participants in this year’s effort included Head O’ Meadow Elementary School students, Daniels Farm School in Trumbull students, local Girl Scout troops, and other volunteers along with the Sandy Hook School students.

Ms Randle said all of the Valentines for Troops packages are being sent to the same Army Infantry Division in Afghanistan, which Ms Randle said has a Newtown connection.

Sandy Hook School Valentines For Troops Co-Chairs Barb Sibley and Karyn Holden oversaw the production on February 10 at their school, helping students apply stickers and assemble the boxes into the post office delivery truck.

Ms Randle also said that VFW Post 308 is already looking ahead to its pre-Memorial Day effort to replace flags marking the graves of Newtown veterans. The effort is an annual one, and will be held on the Wednesday before Memorial Day in May, according to Ms Randle. Volunteers are being sought for the effort and Ms Randle said people who wish to donate to the cause, which can cost $1,500, can do so through a PayPal account listed off of the VFW’s Facebook page, called “VFW Post 308 Newtown CT,” or off of its website, vfwpost308.com.