SVES helps pack Project Holiday Cheer letters

Some 24 San Vicente Elementary School fourth grade students whizzed through tables, running here and there as they rushed to fold envelopes and pack hundreds of letters into boxes that will be sent to U.S. soldiers deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa.

This year’s Project Holiday Cheer held its final phase of gathering the letters at SVES since the school garnered the highest number of letters that will be sent to U.S. soldiers abroad.

Pacific STAR Center for Young Writers Inc. director Kathryn Tuten-Pucket, who spearheaded the project, said that SVES made 318 letters this year.

Military Veterans Affairs Office deputy executive director Ruth Coleman, American Red Cross-NMI Chapter director John Hirsh, Noel Chargualaf and wife Rita, and Peter John Leon Aguon joined the event Friday morning.

Coleman said this is her third year to collaborate with Tuten-Pucket in bringing smiles to NMI soldiers on active duty this holiday season. As a veteran herself, Coleman said, she could relate to the emotions of what the soldiers go through every year, particularly during the holidays.

“It’s always a touching experience to receive letters, especially from the children in the community when you’re there,” she added.

CNMI Troops Familia Network officer Rita Chargualaf, herself the wife of a soldier, said she helped in organizing the letters last Friday because she and her husband are also sending 24 boxes from the network, and they would include the letters that the CNMI schoolchildren had made. Chargualaf said she and her husband fully support the troops deployed for missions.

Noel Chargualaf said he still remembers when he was in Iraq and he received the letters from home; it boosted his and his fellow NMI soldiers’ morale. “It boosted our morale that somebody back home are thinking of us,” he said.

Hirsh said he participated in this year’s project as part of the non-profit organization’s community services. “This is a great opportunity to be involved,” he said, adding that Red Cross also sends personnel to war-torn Iraq and other countries.

Tuten-Pucket said the letters are up for distribution tomorrow, Monday.

SVES teacher Rhonda Camacho said it was exciting to see the faces of her students, especially when they see their own letters being slipped inside the envelopes.

This year’s sponsors for the project are the Military Veterans Affairs Office, VFW Post 3457 and the American Red Cross-NMI Chapter.

Schools participating in the project are: Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School, Kagman Elementary School, Koblerville Elementary School, San Antonio Elementary School, San Vicente Elementary School, Tanapag Elementary School, William S. Reyes Elementary School, Calvary Christian Academy, Grace Christian Academy, Marianas Baptist Academy, Mt. Carmel School, Northern Marianas Academy, Saipan Community School, Seventh Day Adventist Elementary School and Whispering Palms School.

The annual project kicked off last month at the Saipan Community School in Susupe.

“We will also send cards and letters to any military personnel that we have a name and address for. If you know someone in the military that you would like to receive a CNMI greeting card, contact me with the name and current address,” Tuten-Pucket said.

Last year the Project Holiday Cheer collected 2,484 letters written by Kinder to 12th grade students in the CNMI. There were 15 schools and 134 classrooms that participated and 220 packets of letters were sent to Echo Company and other off-island military personnel from the Commonwealth.

For more information on this project, contact Tuten-Pucket at 234-4849, 236-READ or email her at pacificstartcenter4yw@yahoo.com.