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I found this on another site and thought perhaps some people on here could help them out. It's great to see kids getting involved.
By BRIAN MEDEL Yarmouth Bureau
YARMOUTH — Operation Wounded Soldier is underway, but not at a battalion aid station on a far-flung battlefield.
The project is being carried out in a couple of Yarmouth County schools.
Some students in grades 8 and 9 at Maple Grove Education Centre in Hebron and older students at Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School are readying care packages for wounded Canadian soldiers recovering at home from battle trauma in Afghanistan.
"If anyone can help us, please do," said Joe Bishara, a Maple Grove teacher and leader of the school’s memorial club.
The club is seeking residential addresses of recuperating soldiers.
"We will not give the addresses out to anyone," he said.
Student club members will send off a care package to each soldier they learn about.
"The packages are not just a card. We’ve got quite a few items that are going to go in them," Mr. Bishara said.
The club also has another project underway called Operation Guardian Angel.
Large laminated prints, bearing messages of support on both front and back, will be sent to each military person serving in Afghanistan, he said.
The Memorial Club began some 20 years ago at Maple Grove, a junior high school, to remember wartime sacrifices and Canadian veterans. It later branched out to the senior high school.
In the 1980s, veterans often came to speak to students. Many veterans of the Second World War are in their 80s now and no longer able to get out much, said Mr. Bishara.
"Now, these young people honour people they very seldom see or meet. They’re taught to love their freedom and their country," he said.
Probably 40 per cent of Maple Grove students in grades 8 and 9 have joined the memorial club and Canada’s mission to Afghanistan is something discussed in class now.
"Whether you’re for or against the war . . . has nothing to do with the fact that our troops are there," said Mr. Bishara.
"Afghanistan is a place where our soldiers are going to help other people, and that’s what Canadians do," he said.
"Sometimes we can be peacekeepers, but right now we have to take a stand against an enemy so they won’t grow stronger," he said.
Club members raise their own money and travel far and wide to entertain hospitalized veterans and even participate in the funerals of veterans.
And Remembrance Day is an important event for them.
This year’s Remembrance Day service at Maple Grove Education Centre will begin at 1 p.m. today.
The name of each Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan will be read during a brief candlelight portion of the service.
The public is welcome to attend the service, said Mr. Bishara.
By BRIAN MEDEL Yarmouth Bureau
YARMOUTH — Operation Wounded Soldier is underway, but not at a battalion aid station on a far-flung battlefield.
The project is being carried out in a couple of Yarmouth County schools.
Some students in grades 8 and 9 at Maple Grove Education Centre in Hebron and older students at Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School are readying care packages for wounded Canadian soldiers recovering at home from battle trauma in Afghanistan.
"If anyone can help us, please do," said Joe Bishara, a Maple Grove teacher and leader of the school’s memorial club.
The club is seeking residential addresses of recuperating soldiers.
"We will not give the addresses out to anyone," he said.
Student club members will send off a care package to each soldier they learn about.
"The packages are not just a card. We’ve got quite a few items that are going to go in them," Mr. Bishara said.
The club also has another project underway called Operation Guardian Angel.
Large laminated prints, bearing messages of support on both front and back, will be sent to each military person serving in Afghanistan, he said.
The Memorial Club began some 20 years ago at Maple Grove, a junior high school, to remember wartime sacrifices and Canadian veterans. It later branched out to the senior high school.
In the 1980s, veterans often came to speak to students. Many veterans of the Second World War are in their 80s now and no longer able to get out much, said Mr. Bishara.
"Now, these young people honour people they very seldom see or meet. They’re taught to love their freedom and their country," he said.
Probably 40 per cent of Maple Grove students in grades 8 and 9 have joined the memorial club and Canada’s mission to Afghanistan is something discussed in class now.
"Whether you’re for or against the war . . . has nothing to do with the fact that our troops are there," said Mr. Bishara.
"Afghanistan is a place where our soldiers are going to help other people, and that’s what Canadians do," he said.
"Sometimes we can be peacekeepers, but right now we have to take a stand against an enemy so they won’t grow stronger," he said.
Club members raise their own money and travel far and wide to entertain hospitalized veterans and even participate in the funerals of veterans.
And Remembrance Day is an important event for them.
This year’s Remembrance Day service at Maple Grove Education Centre will begin at 1 p.m. today.
The name of each Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan will be read during a brief candlelight portion of the service.
The public is welcome to attend the service, said Mr. Bishara.
