Thanks to the efforts of some Fulton students, more than 500 soldiers away from their families for the holidays will get a friendly and thankful reminder of home.
Fulton Middle School and McIntire Elementary partnered with the Heart of Missouri chapter of the American Red Cross for its "Holiday Mail for Heroes" project, in which the Red Cross teams up with schools, businesses and other organizations to send holiday cards to troops deployed overseas and stationed locally.
Callaway Leadership Council Chair Al Reyes said that while the volume of cards were appreciated, their subject matter was what truly hit home.
"I went to Jefferson City and presented the cards to Jefferson City ... there were two or three men and women there and everyone was in tears reading some of these cards," Reyes said. "Some were from handicapped kids who are barely able to write, but I served myself and I know what it's like to get something like that."
Reyes credited FMS Secretary Jo Williamson and Cami Webb, McIntire fifth grade teacher, with spearheading the project within their respective schools.