4th-graders send letters to troops

YOUNGSTOWN

Fourth-graders in Laurie McEwan’s class at Taft Elementary School wanted U.S. Marines serving in Afghanistan to be safe and to know that people at home are thinking about them.

The students wrote letters to the troops last month after The Vindicator ran “Operation Holiday Cheer,” telling readers how to send care packages to military service people overseas.

Peggy Yuhas, a tutor in McEwan’s class at the city school, has a grandson, Sgt. Steven Bennett, serving with the Marines in Afghanistan. It was her suggestion to write the letters.

“We decided on Veterans’ Day to write the letters,” McEwan said. “We made it a writing project.”

Yuhas told the students about her grandson and other troops serving overseas.

The children wrote each letter on a snowman card, enclosed them in a box with some hard candy and toiletries and sent it to the Marines. The box was addressed to Bennett with the idea he would share with his buddies.

For the full story and photos, read today's Vindicator or Vindy.com.