Lewis and Clark Elementary students in Great Falls write veterans letters
GREAT FALLS— Students at Lewis and Clark Elementary in Montana started writing letters to veterans ahead of Veterans Day in November. The effort grew from Principal Katy Kennedy’s decision to continue a tradition started by her father, a Vietnam veteran. After he died, he left behind a list of other veterans he had written to. Kennedy launched the nonprofit Respect With Gratitude for Veterans [link]. She first started the program while teaching in Chicago and later continued it in Montana. This year, Lewis and Clark Elementary students began preparing letters that volunteers and community members will help deliver before Veterans Day. One student said the project mattered because of what veterans might feel when they receive the notes. "Just, even if I don’t get to see the way they reacted, just the feeling of they were happy and felt, like, heard or understood about it, about helping out the country," Lewis and Clark student Allison said. Volunteers and community members planned to help make sure the letters reached veterans before Veterans Day.
