By David Wallace
C & G Staff Writer

FARMINGTON — Working with the American Legion Post 346, Farmington Public Schools students at numerous schools designed construction-paper valentines to send to American servicemen and women stationed far from home.

When volunteers gathered at the post Feb. 2 to pack the valentines into envelopes, the kids’ cards covered an entire tabletop. Diane Bauman, the school district’s director of community relations, brought more valentines to the post, and the covering grew to a pile. The post easily received valentines numbering in the four-figures range.

Bauman said the valentines epitomized the caring of the students, staff and community.

“It’s heartwarming. Even when everybody is going through a lot of stuff on their own, they still take time to care about others,” said Bauman.

Those not in the know might wonder what use tough soldiers would have for valentines from kids they don’t know.

“It’ll mean a lot to them — it’s got to touch them. I know when I was overseas that any mail that I got was very important to me,” said Michael Williams, the Post 346 commander.

Williams had a similar experience when he served with the 101st Airborne in Vietnam in 1968.

“The Girl Scouts sent us a bunch of packages that I handed out to the guys,” he said. “Stuff like this they really like, I can say from personal experience.”

The post has the same plan for the valentines. The volunteers stuffed large stacks into flat-rate envelopes.

“We figure if we can get one good man in every outfit that we send to, then they can have a little Valentine’s party if they want,” said Wally Christensen, the post’s chaplain.

The kids wrote notes that ranged from poetic to laugh-out-loud funny.

“You are the shining light in America’s dark times,” said one.

 Another wrote, “I hope you have the enemies running for their lives.”

“These are probably the best kid remarks that you’ll find anywhere,” said Christensen. “It’s from their heart and what they believe in.”

Christensen has thank you notes from troops for the valentines received last year. This is the third year the post has sought valentines to send overseas.

This year’s effort came together in a matter of weeks.

“We didn’t know what to expect or how many we could get, and obviously, it struck a chord with everybody,” said Bauman.

Christensen expects to send the envelopes to more than 20 destinations.

Williams said he was proud to be the commander of the post and to participate in the effort.

“It does make me feel real good,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer David Wallace at dwallace@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1053.