Creating holiday cards for military personnel who will not be home to celebrate with family made seventh- and eighth-grade students glad that they could share a small amount of joy through a handwritten message and artwork.

“This makes me feel good that I might be giving someone else happiness,” said one student.

This annual greeting card project in the classes of Nancy Claxton and Stacey Susi and this year in the classes of Hillary Benesch and Hannah Dauria has students write a holiday message and create artwork. The cards are then sent to Operation Christmas Cards for Troops Overseas, which forwards the cards to various military stationed overseas.

For some of the students, the project had a personal connection. “This makes me feel glad because both my grandparents and my dad were veterans and it's good to know that we are doing something nice for them,” said one boy.

Another student said, “This makes me feel good because we are thanking all the service members that are helping to keep our country safe and I have a lot of family members that are veterans.”

Another summed it up, “This makes me feel glad because I love to help others, especially since they helped our country so much and it's a lot because just a simple card cannot express what they do for us.”