Chautauqua program adopts Army platoon
March 5, 2010
Wentzville School District
The Wentzville School District’s before and after school care program known as “Chautauqua”, has been sending care packages to a platoon they adopted in the United States Army’s Cavalry Division currently serving in Iraq.
Students, parents, Chautauqua facilitators and administrators have worked together to provide needed items to this group of soldiers since November through the Adopt-a-Platoon Support Effort®.
The program was established in 1998 in order to “provide a better deployment quality of life by sending cards, letters and care packages to lift the morale of Troops as they serve far from home and assist military families,” according to the non-profit group’s website.
Chautauqua Coordinator Tanya Kirkpatrick said the children in her program were learning about the military as the holidays approached and she heard about the Adopt-a-Platoon effort and thought it would be an opportunity to reinforce those lessons and help US service men and women serving overseas at the same time. She filled out an application and Chautauqua was assigned a 14-man Cavalry Scout platoon serving in the Diyala province of Iraq.
By requesting a platoon to adopt, Kirkpatrick and Chautauqua committed to sending weekly letters and monthly care packages to their platoon for one year. To date, Chautauqua has sent over 40 packages to the soldiers. One parent, who works for Rayovac, donated 1,200 batteries and another parent donated a case of hand warmers.
Staff Sergeant Daniel Smith, Chautauqua’s point of contact in the platoon, wrote an email to Kirkpatrick thanking her and everyone in Chautauqua for the notes and packages. He described how difficult it is for his platoon to acquire batteries and how his soldiers use them in their night vision goggles, helping them patrol in the dark. He added “This winter has been especially cold, and the hand warmers you sent made the guys way more comfortable while they were standing for hours on checkpoint.”
Kirkpatrick said she is thrilled to be a part of this effort. “This is so exciting and I’m so glad we could help! It is amazing to think these soldiers could fight at night because of some students in Missouri who sent batteries.”
Chautauqua has over 800 students enrolled in the before and after school program. For more information about Adopt-a-Platoon, visit www.adoptaplatoon.org.
Copyright 2010 Neighbors About Town
