It all started with a letter.
Angel Maldonado, a 1999 Memorial High School graduate and member of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne unit based in Afghanistan, was feeling the effects of living in a combat zone. Lonely and needing contact from home, he wrote to his former Social Studies teacher from Memorial High, Frank Augustines. A single return letter most likely would have sufficed, but Maldonado set in motion a chain of events that will wind up brightening not just Maldonado’s life, but the lives of many of his fellow soldiers.
Augustines thought more could be done than just a single letter. He contacted Memorial’s supervisor of secondary education, Geri Stangel, and with the approval of Principal Matt Sinisi, the entire faculty of Memorial High was encouraged to write letters to Maldonado, letting him know that he was remembered and supported back home.
Maldonado responded with a letter that proved that his spirits had indeed been lifted.
Enter media studies teacher Doug Neralich.
By Neralich’s own admission, once he gets hold of an idea, he “gets stubborn and won’t let go.” And his idea focused on lifting the spirits of many soldiers, not just one. As a Vietnam Veteran, Neralich is keenly aware of the rigors of combat: the cold, the homesickness, fear of death.
Neralich went to Principal Sinisi and asked for two things: permission to start a school-wide letter-writing campaign including Memorial students, and secondly, permission to start a drive to collect the things that soldiers miss most, including candy, gum, writing paper, Chap Stick and cans of foot powder.
Sinisi gave Neralich full permission, and “Project Angel” (named by Neralich) was born.
All students participatev Three weeks ago, a memo entitled “An Open Letter to the Students of Memorial High School” was given to every student. It read in part, “Suppose you were in a place where you had no access to video games, television, telephones, shopping, restaurants, and your only contact with loved ones, friends and home was through letters?” The letter continued, “We are asking the students in Memorial to help brighten the spirits of our soldiers serving in Afghanistan by participating in an effort we call ‘Project Angel’.”
The response was massive.
According to Neralich, he has in his possession “well over 1,000 letters.” Neralich added that the student letters were written “in about a week’s time.”
The letter- writing was coordinated through the English Department. Said Neralich, “The letters are so heartfelt. You can get very emotional reading them.” Added Neralich, “It’s a tough thing to leave those you love, literally to put your life on the line.”
The second part of Project Angel involves collecting, packaging and sending boxes of the goods mentioned above. This has proven to be a more daunting task than sending letters, but this aspect of the project is being coordinated by three organizations: The Key Club, the National Honor Society and the 82nd Airborne Association.
The Key Club is a division of the Kiwanis International Organization. According to Key Club advisor Stacy Swensen, the Key Club is a “service organization that sponsors projects that help various communities through charitable events and drives.” The Project Angel effort is receiving assistance from the North Hudson division.
According to the National Honor Society’s web site (www.nhs.us), their constitution, in part, calls for schools “to stimulate a desire to render service, to promote leadership, and to develop character in the students of secondary schools.”
The 82nd Airborne Association, founded in 1944 just prior to the Normandy Invasion, has many different projects, one of which is the presenting of educational grants to dependent children of Association members. Members can be inactive veterans or soldiers on active duty. The only requirement is that the member is or was “glider or airborne qualified.”
West New York resident Harold Schroeder and his wife Edna are members of the organization and agreed to assist in the effort. According to Neralich, “They’ve given us a hand in what to send, where to send it and what the soldiers might need over there.”
Added Neralich, “This has been a very cooperative venture. There’s a lot of sweetness in this building.”