Valentines For Troops

Chair Says

Adult Volunteers Welcome

By Eliza Hallabeck

The days left before February 14 are ticking off for Valentines For Troops Project Chair Donna Monteleone Randle, but, she said this week, there is still time for volunteers, including adults, to come forward.

To have the valentines and care packages reach troops serving overseas in time for February 14, the local effort to send troops special thanks for Valentine’s Day typically begins to wrap its school-based efforts after students return to school following the winter break.

“We have lots of participation from the schools, which is wonderful,” said Ms Randle.

This year students from Bethel, Danbury, Monroe, Trumbull, and more will be joining the letter writing campaign along with Newtown students.

“It would be nice if we could get more participation from adults or adult groups in Newtown,” Ms Randle added.

Not everyone writes letters, Ms Randle said. Others can volunteer time to help sort donations or help oversee that the packages are appropriately marked before being shipped to their recipients.

Whether adult or student groups, Ms Randle said people interested in volunteering with the effort are limited by their imaginations alone. In the last couple years the project has been in Newtown, Ms Randle said care packages, DVD collections, cards, and more have been sent to troops overseas.

This year four canines serving in a cavalry unit are on the project’s mailing list.

One year, Ms Randle remembered a girl had her dog mark a paw print on a card to send to a canine serving in the armed forces overseas.

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

While the effort has predominantly been directed at students in the past, Ms Randle, a former US Army Captain, Signal Corps, said this year the effort has branched out farther.

For this first time, Ms Randle said Valentines For Troops made an effort this year to connect participants with the servicemen and women they will be writing to in advance by e-mail.

While Ms Randle said she would love to have interested participants contact her by the middle of January, she said there is no real deadline for participating with the Valentines For Troops program. Every day a soldier receives good cheer from home, Ms Randle said, is Valentine’s Day.

Adult groups and church groups interested in writing can also contact the group for more information, she said.

“It’s easy to just roll it out. The more the merrier,” said the project chair.

Ms Randle also said community service hours can also be given to young people who volunteer with the effort.

Anyone interested in volunteering with the effort or signing up to write a Valentine’s Day card or creating a personalized package can contact Ms Randle by e-mail at ndrandle@charter.net. The Valentines For Troops effort also has a Facebook page, Valentines for Troops Newtown CT.