The Student Activities Board (SAB) paid homage last Wednesday during Campus lifetime to US soldiers stationed abroad, by sending letters of encouragement and thanks.
“Some people forget that they are over there, so a simple letter to them really helps them know we haven’t forgotten,” Vanessa Deravin, a sophomore and one of the students who helped organize the event, said.
Many students who stopped by to write a letter of appreciation were given a token of SAB’s appreciation such as sandals, chips, and CapriSun. Graduate student Dave Cinelli stopped at the table to write a letter to those in the military. He was writing to a person he doesn’t even know and was really proud to do it.
“My brother is in his third tour right now,” Cinelli said. “He’s a parachute packer and medic for the Army and it’s been hard having him over there so much. Just when we thought he was back, they pulled him in again.”
In order to explain the responsibility that our men and women overseas have taken on to the people who don’t want them there, Cinelli said he would tell them that our troops have chosen to give their lives to protect the country and the life you are living.
“I have major respect for those men and women,” he said.
Deravin also mentioned that you can’t send care packages to the troops like you used to. A lot of the items you want to send must be through organizations. Some things that you can still send to the troops are ChapStick, hand sanitizers, body lotion, facial cleaning pads, throat lozenges, vitamin C lozenges, foot and body powder sprays, eyewash, hard candies, powdered pre-sweetened drink mixes, such as Crysta Light and Kool Aid, Doritos, Chex Mix, and pretzels. Other items to include would be disposable cameras, rat traps, batteries, mini remote control cars, international phone cards, AT’T or MCI, electronic games, newspapers, and chewing tobacco.
