By Jodi Marze, Lifestyles Editor
The Picayune Item
PICAYUNE —
The second grade classes of Kathy Impastato and Katie Johnson of PRC Lower Elementary School are this week’s Everyday Heroes. These students have worked hard to put together “gratitude” packages to send to local troops who have been deployed and will be missing their families this Christmas.
Johnson explained how the project came about and said, “We recently had several soldiers deployed from Pearl River County. Several of these men and women graduated from Pearl River Central school and are personal friends of mine. I thought it would be nice especially during the Christmas season to send some supplies to the soldiers. I spoke to some of them and they gave us a list of things they were most in need of.
“I teamed up with Mrs. Impastato to do this great project. We had such a wonderful response of items that were donated for our troops. We began to think about the service men/women who would not be home with their families for the holidays. We decided to put together a video message and a few Christmas carols to send to the troops. We invited our superintendent, Mr. Alan Lumpkin, our principal, Dr. Sharon Guepet, and members of the school board to participate in this video along with our 2nd grade classes.”
Things soon came together for the project and the children were diligent in getting the extra work done to see it to completion.
“The children in both classes wrote stories on why the soldiers were their heroes. The children also made several crafts too. We sent these stories, crafts, and our video message to the soldiers.
“The superintendent, our principal, assistant principal, and school board members were eager to participate in this wonderful activity. They were very thankful toward us for supporting our local troops. The word spread quickly through our school community on what a great job the students did in order to prepare the video and the act of kindness and gratitude for the food donations that were brought in for the service men/women,” said Johnson.
The video began with Impastato playing "God Bless the U.S.A." on the piano; while the music continued softly, a student read, "We would like to thank you for your service in the military to protect our country and keep us all safe here in America." After the student finished reading, the classes joined in singing the refrain of "God Bless The U.S.A"
The group then sang "Jingle Bells" and recited a few messages to the soldiers: "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," "Stay safe and God Bless," "From PRC Lower Elementary."
Johnson said, “We finished our video by singing ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas.’ The soldiers will receive their package in time for Christmas. The children were very excited about this project and we know the soldiers will be most appreciative.”
Thank you to the students of both Impastato and Johnson, who demonstrate that there is no age barrier when it comes to caring and making the world a better place for others.
