38.5°F  Website Login | Madison HeightsJanuary 3, 2012Japhet students prep care packages for servicemen
By Andy Kozlowski
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Teacher Lauren Jones stands with her second-grade class, holding one of the three blankets they made for a trio of servicemen this holiday. One such blanket will help keep Lauren’s husband, Airman David Jones, warm while he serves with the Air National Guard in Afghanistan, where temperatures can dip low during the winter.
Teacher Lauren Jones stands with her second-grade class, holding one of the three blankets they made for a trio of servicemen this holiday. One such blanket will help keep Lauren’s husband, Airman David Jones, warm while he serves with the Air National Guard in Afghanistan, where temperatures can dip low during the winter.
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MADISON HEIGHTS — Out in the deserts of Afghanistan, Airman David Jones was feeling cold. A member of the Air National Guard, he works a long shift, 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. At times, the temperature can hover right around freezing.
But he’s feeling a lot warmer now, thanks to a fleece blanket made by the 24 first- and second-graders in the class of his wife Lauren Jones, who teaches at Japhet School in Madison Heights.
David is also better fed. The military doesn’t let their members starve, of course, but the selection isn’t always the greatest. That’s why the kids also included in the care package lots of tasty treats David would love at home.
And he wasn’t the only one to receive gifts from the kids. They also made blankets and shipped food to two other servicemen: Airman Jamie Miller, a family friend of the Jones with the Air Force in New Mexico, and Army Spc. Tyler Ring, a soldier in Texas and the brother of Japhet second-grader Allison Ring of Troy. In all they shipped more than 100 pounds of nonperishable snack items for just three men.
“I sent a letter home explaining this is what we’re doing … and then just tons of stuff came in,” Lauren said. “I had a bin in my classroom, and it was overflowing in just two days. Since it takes things longer to be mailed to Afghanistan, (the one for David) lasted only a week, but I extended the ones for the stateside servicemen to two weekends.”
David, who’s been in Afghanistan for several months, received his before Christmas.
“I’ve just been so thankful for how much the families have pitched in,” Lauren said. “I actually spoke with my husband (Dec. 15), and he had received his package, and he was really pleased to have a bigger variety of what he can choose to eat, and of course the blanket. He was excited to say, ‘Not too hot, not too cold.’”
The project was inspired by an eighth-grader at the school that held a presentation back in November about the nationwide initiative Operation Gratitude. Operation Gratitude collects donations of such items as toothpaste and socks, basic items that make a world of difference for the comfort levels of our troops.
The presentation was part of Japhet’s INSPO assembly: Inspiring Speakers, Participants and Observers. Held each Monday, INSPO focuses on 18 character qualities — nine one year, nine the next — and as a graduation requirement, eighth-graders must present a schoolwide speech, 25-30 minutes long, focusing on character building.
“Character education is about bringing the meaning of character into the students’ lives, and most importantly giving them the opportunity to put good character into action,” said Betsy Stecker, communication director at Japhet. “It’s not just talking about it, but purposefully integrating it into the curriculum and designing activities that allow students to recognize this is making a difference, this is being a person of character.”
Stecker pointed out how Japhet students as young as 3 or 4 years old can tell you “initiative” means doing something good without anyone telling you to do so, and “reliability” is doing the right thing even when nobody is watching.
“Our children really continue to impress not only their parents, but other adults as well, with how they not only understand good character, but they continue to express it,” Stecker said. “They own it.”
Lauren said the project has helped the first- and second-graders appreciate what the men and women in uniform do for the country.
“I don’t think she (Allison) is overly concerned; she knows he (Tyler) is serving and protecting the country,” Lauren said. “I think she feels special to be taken care of, just as much as she’s taking care of her brother. She’s very excited.”
Lauren can’t help but miss her husband, David, though.
“It’s tough,” she said. “We’re able to talk for 10 minutes a day when he’s waiting for the bus to take him from where he sleeps to where he works, because the base is so large. We’re able to Skype one day a week, so we do have some communications. In past times, we’ve had close to no communication, so this is much, much better in that regard.”
Still, “I don’t have my partner at home,” she said. “He’s the one who always picks up the slack if I need someone to go to the grocery store. Now it’s all me. I go to the store, and I cook, and I clean.”
Lauren said that in her time of separation from her husband, the generosity of others has touched her heart.
“It’s nice to receive support from people outside of your family.”
