SPOKANE, Wash. -- The kids in two fifth grade classes at Woodridge Elementary are learning things not contained in a book or figured out with a click of a calculator.
Each Monday at 12:45 p.m., Stacy Reich and another teacher teach a life lesson in caring about others. On this particular day, they made cards for Treats 2 Troops.
“These are men and women that are doing this, a big sacrifice by leaving their families and going out and missing the holidays, just to serve our country,” one student said.
The students love the idea of supporting those who serve us but what they may not understand is the power they have with each picture and each word. Keirsten Lyons understands. Similar cards and a care package were sent to her son a few years back.
“When my son Jake was deployed, he got a box from Treats 2 Troops and…packed up from people he didn’t know, cards from kids he’d never met but it met the word to him,” Lyons said.
Jake Hess was killed on New Years day in 2014. Then, a few months later, Lyons received some letters from a class of kids and a teacher she had never met.
“Wrote letters and cards and they just did stuff for her and then I took it over to the family and just said, you know, ‘Thank you. You made the ultimate sacrifice, obviously and I just want you to know that I’ve told you story and my kids just want to say thank you,’” Reich said. “I’ve done that every year and finally drug her in here and got her helping in the classroom.”
The two women became friends and now Lyons is a classroom volunteer. She quietly encourages each student, enjoying the energy and enthusiasm.
Each student took great care making snowflakes destined for war zones. Likely never knowing that their weekly acts of kindness might be the greatest lesson they learn.