Each year, Northside Elementary Librarian Trina Taylor creates an opportunity for students at the campus to spread love during Valentine's Day. Rather than give out cards and candy to classmates, Taylor leads NSE students in a different effort.
As the daughter of a soldier who served in Vietnam, Taylor always thinks of her father who was deployed to Vietnam and what it would have meant to him to receive a package and special note while he was in service which served as the inspiration for the annual project.
Two years ago, Taylor and her students participated in the Valentines to Vets project that sent students' notes of care to the local the VA hospital. Taylor researched different organizations that touched more people, hoping to give the students' efforts a greater reach and that's when she came across Military Missions, an organization that sends care packages on a year-round basis to deployed military. Military Missions' goal is to provide a touch of home to soldiers during long deployments.
NSE kindergarten through second-grade students were allowed to draw whatever they liked as a gift to soldiers to be included in the Military Missions care packages. Students were given a few parameters which included using the entire paper and as much color as possible while refraining from depictions of fighting or weapons. In addition to their artwork, each grade crafts a note of thanks to US soldiers on the back of their artwork to be sent to active military on assigned duty.
"Students have been excited to know that their picture is going to go to someone overseas that they don't know," said Taylor. "They were asked to think of how they would feel if they were far away from home and received a care package."
Mrs. Karen Fields, an NSE teacher, was especially touched by the effort.
“I appreciate the wonderful, heartfelt activity Ms. Taylor is doing with our students,” said Fields. “My son, who was deployed, would have loved to receive a note of appreciation. Thank you Ms. Taylor for thinking of our soldiers.”