Two Canfield seniors send troops holiday cheer

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Neighbors | Submitted .Canfield High School seniors Ryan Sankovic (left) and Donny DeSanto send off Christmas cards and gift certificates to 39 local soldiers serving overseas. The pair raised more than $2,000 during their Operation Christmas Cheer drive in December.

By GRACE WYLER

gwyler@vindy.com

When Jeremy Deveaux was deployed to Korea at the beginning of the holidays last year, his mother Wendy was disappointed that it was too late for her son to be included on a list of soldiers for The Vindicator’s “Operation: Holiday Cheer,” a program that sends holiday cards to local soldiers serving overseas.

After learning of the Deveaux’s plight, two Canfield High School seniors launched their own Operation Christmas Cheer drive to ensure that none of their hometown heroes went without a card at Christmas.

Ryan Sankovic and Donny DeSanto set out to raise enough money to send holiday cards to 39 soldiers from the Canfield area, including some, like Deveaux, who were not on the “Operation: Holiday Cheer” list.

“We saw Operation Christmas Cheer, and we saw the opportunity to bring it to our own community,” Sankovic said. “We thought, why only go for [Jeremy] when we can work on spreading Christmas cheer to all these other troops.”

The pair met with Father Terry Hazel at St. Michael’s Church, who agreed to let the boys stay after masses one Sunday to ask people to sign cards and donate money.

And with the help of the St. Michael’s parishioners and other members of the community, the boys exceeded their own expectations. Sankovic and DeSanto raised $2,050 in just one week.

The pair used the money to send the soldiers holiday cards and gift certificates to the Army & Air Force Exchange Service.

“Our initial intent was to get the soldiers $10 phone cards,” DeSanto said. “But the donations were so generous, so we were able to buy gift cards.”

The cards were sent by Dec. 5, just in time to make it to the troops by Christmas Day.

The pair got an overwhelmingly positive response to the project from the community and the card recipients, Sankovic said.

Several soldiers responded with notes, thanking Sankovic and DeSanto for their kindness and support.

“It truly was a humbling and generous act that you performed,” wrote Pat Passerwtz, a first lieutenant with the 173 Airborne Brigades who is stationed in Afghanistan.

“It is always a great feeling to know people still remember you from back home.”