River Valley Students Raised $2100 for Honor Flight

From River Valley School

River Valley School held a building-wide fundraiser for Honor Flight Chicago.

Honor Flight Chicago’s mission is to thank and pay tribute to our war heroes—especially our World War II veterans—by bringing them to Washington, D.C. for a day of honor and remembrance at no cost to them.

It costs roughly $500 to send a WWII veteran to Washing DC to see the memorials. A little over $2,100 was raised, which will afford four veterans the opportunity to travel to D.C.

“It’s amazing that we collected over $2,000 to send WWII veterans to Washington DC. This serves as a small thank you for all they gave. The sacrifice they made to protect our freedoms should never be forgotten,” said Principal Debra Lynch.

The grade level collecting the most money will earn books about the military for their classroom libraries.

Fourth grade teacher Jean Boyce is organizing a letter writing effort to be used in conjunction with Honor Flight Chicago.

All 3rd-5th grade students will be writing letters for “mail call on the flight” wherein every Veteran on the D.C. bound flight receives “mail call.”

Our letters will be included in their pack along with letters from family and friends. Gayle Litsogannis, a Special Education Teacher, organized a ribbon campaign for families (students & staff) with Veterans.

Students wrote the names of the Veterans in their families. Over 250 ribbons were displayed on the wall, reminding us of those who have served.

Individually, grade levels will also be doing smaller activities, including making holiday cards for Veterans, learning about the history of dog tags, and reading about the various branches of the military. As a culminating lesson, Aaron Taylor from the Navy talked with each of the classes about military life.