By John R. Crane
Journal Staff Writer
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| Marissa Clay, 2, a student in Barb Belt's Blue classroom at the Pinon Project's Tree House personalizes her thank-you card to our troops overseas, while classmates Christian Blue Eyes, 3, and Jada Brace, 2, watch closely and await their turn. |
For the Head Start children at Tree House Learning Center, red and blue are not the hues of a national political divide, but the flying colors of their handprinted flag to be sent to troops overseas.
Thirty-two small, red and blue handprints hold the stars and form the red stripes to remind soldiers in the Middle East they are in the children's thoughts.
"They're helping the troops remember that they haven't forgotten them and that they're protecting them as well as the adults," said Tamis Sapp, who teaches the children along with her sister, Terra Sapp.
Sean McLaughlin, who turns 5 Nov. 16, summed up his feelings about his artistic labors succinctly.
"Happy! Proud!" McLaughlin enthused.
Four-year-old Dhanielle Clark concurred with her ebullient classmate.
"Happy!" Clark said.
"Yep. Me too!" said 3-year-old Robert Lack lll, while he played with the crucifix around Tamis Sapp's neck as she kneeled next to him, holding him.
The flag has special meaning for Lack, whose father, Robert Jr., is stationed at Fort Carson and is getting ready for a second deployment to Iraq. The elder Lack is with the 64th Forward Support Battalion attached to the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, the division that captured Saddam Hussein.
Tracy Russell, who spread the flag idea to area schools and agencies, said she does not know whether the flag will be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan.
The flag will first be sent to the brainchild of the project, Hampton, Va.-based Proud Patriots, and then to the troops. Russell heard about the organization through a friend. Proud Patriots is a nonpartisan effort to send gifts and holiday messages to troops stationed overseas. Gifts include DVD players, movies, books and toys for Marine, Army, Reserve and National Guard units, Navy ships, Air Force squadrons and field hospitals, said Russell, who has a son, Cody Russell, in Head Start and a daughter, Crystal Russell, at Mesa School.
The new agency has schoolchildren across the nation creating artwork to send to troops overseas. And Russell has recruited teachers at several schools in Montezuma County - Butler Head Start, Mesa School, Cortez Middle School and Manaugh Grade School - to dip their students' hands in paint.
Besides sending a comforting message to our nation's soldiers, the assignment provides eager young students with creative fun. Just ask Clark why the exercise made her jovial.
"Because I liked it," Clark said.
For more information about Proud Patriots, call Carolina Young at xxx-xxx-xxxx. (x'd out by me)