Students will write to troops

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP - At the Joseph J. Catena School, Burlington Road, pupils in Rob Albanese's fifth grade social studies class are busy writing letters to U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and elsewhere.

Timed to coincide with Veterans Day, Nov. 11, the activity is part of a countrywide campaign started by Shauna Fleming, a student at Lutheran High School in Orange, Calif., who began the A Million Thanks organization as a way of expressing thanks and appreciation to the men and women in the armed forces.

Fleming's original goal was to send one million letters overseas; instead, she surpassed that goal with two million letters and is now aiming for three million.

Pupils throughout the United States are participating in the project, with letters, cards, and pictures created by students being shipped continually to troops.

In a letter describing the activity to Freehold Township Superintendent of Schools William J. Setaro, Albanese's class wrote, "We are writing letters to the brave soldiers who are fighting the war in Iraq, and thanking them for their service and sacrifice. We want them to know how much it means to us that they are serving in the armed forces, and how we hope they all return safely."