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Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009
Our View: A salute to school kids of Le Grand
Students raise $300 for 30 wreaths to be lain at National Cemetery in Santa Nella.
A loud "hooah" and "oorah" for the kids at Le Grand Elementary School.
The Army and Marine chants are well deserved for the 400 or so students, prekindergarten through eighth grade, for how they've honored our nation's fallen military heroes.
Through a program called Wreaths Across America (add a .org to its name for the Web site), the Le Grand students raised more than $300 for the national nonprofit. The money will be spent on some 30 wreaths that will be laid on graves at the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery at Santa Nella on the county's Westside Dec. 12.
Each student was asked to bring in $2 for the tribute, made of evergreen featuring a red ribbon. Some brought in as much as $50 or $60. Others, squeezed hard by tough economic times, could manage only a quarter or 50 cents.
Whatever the amount, every one of the school's 24 classrooms participated.
Seventh-grade advisers Becky DeBusk and Michelle Cordoza spearheaded the effort, but it wasn't hard to persuade the kids and their parents to give.
"This has touched a lot of lives," said DeBusk, whose father was a career U.S. Air Force man once stationed at Castle. Several other families of students and families include veterans or presently serving armed service members.
Last year, some 300 locations held wreath-laying ceremonies in every state. Wreaths Across America says 60,000 volunteers participated.
Le Grand's achievement resonated deeply with one Mercedian. Terri Pickard is the mother of Josh, a Marine killed in Anbar Province, Iraq, in December 2007. Josh is buried at Santa Nella.
"It brought awareness to the kids to show honor about our veterans," she said of their wreath campaign.
She'll be at Santa Nella Dec. 12.
At noon Eastern time (9 a.m. Pacific), wreaths will be laid on veterans' graves all across America.
Thanks to the generosity and dedication of Le Grand Elementary students and teachers, many wreaths will find their rightful place atop the graves of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Le Grand Elementary -- we salute you.
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