Students sending cards to soldiers
By SCOTT POWELL Ledger Staff Writer spowell@gaffneyledger.com

Limestone Learning Center students are shown Tuesday with Christmas cards they created to send to soldiers recovering from injuries suffered in the Iraq war. Pictured are (front row) Matt Bobo and Darvin Dover along with (standing) Matthew Leggins, Amanda Lechner, Dustin Gathings, Leah Wicks and Makiyo Miller.

A group of 16-year-old alternative school students is sending their own message of support this holiday season to injured veterans who have come home from the Iraq War.

Limestone Learning Center students attending the Alternatives in Motion (AIM) program created 100 Christmas cards before leaving for the Thanksgiving holidays. The cards will be mailed to veterans recovering from war injuries at Walter Reed Army Hospital.

The service learning project was done by high schoolage students who are working to earn their general equivalency high school diplomas. AIM is a program that works with at-risk students to help them complete their education and get job skills training before they enter the workforce.

"These cards are going to soldiers who are spending the holidays in the hospital while recovering from injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan," AIM teacher Lisa Page said. "Their families are living and staying in homes near the hospital. With appreciation to these soldiers for all they have given we hope that these cards bring happiness and good cheer to those who receive them."

Page said the Christmas cards are part of a program called "Fallen Soldiers." She heard about the program from a fellow educator and viewed it as a way to get students involved in a community project for the holidays.

"They were all very eager to begin work on this project when they learned it was for soldiers who have dedicated their lives in order to give Americans a better chance to live a normal life here in a free country," Page said. "What these soldiers have done means a lot to these students because of the background from which many of them come is not the ideal American dream."

Anyone interested in sending a Christmas card to soldiers can send their cards to: A Recovering American Soldier, c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center; 6900 Georgia Avenue, NW; Washington, D.C. 20307-5001.