Little acts of kindness go a long way. And in the spirit of the season, kids at the Castle Pines home are spreading kindness in the form of thoughtful words written in a holiday card.
A tradition for the last eight years, the holiday cards written by the kids are then sent to United States troops serving overseas.
While it usually takes the kids a few sessions to complete the cards, the first night everyone gathers in the home for some hot cocoa, holiday music, and card writing.
This year, the kids started writing the letters just before Thanksgiving. People from AWARE’s adult homes also had their own opportunity to write holiday cards to the troops.
Together the children and adults wrote 106 holiday cards.
Simple messages such as Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or Thank You for Serving Our Country are written in the cards. Some also include holiday pictures drawn by the kids.
AWARE Program Manager Dawn Lucero-Palmer created this activity as part of a group social skills class the kids participate in on a weekly basis. Writing the holiday cards helps the kids fulfill assigned kindness tasks discussed each week.
Dawn says she really tries to emphasize the importance of how little things like writing to the troops makes a big impact for those who are far away from their families during the holidays.
She feels that it’s also a good way to teach kids the values of kindness and appreciation.
Because everyone loves writing the cards, the tradition continues to grow each year. Next year, Dawn says they plan to increase the number of cards they write.
The holiday cards written by the kids and adults are distributed to three different
organizations that forward the cards on to soldiers serving in all branches of the U.S. military.
If you are also interested in writing to the troops, you can write a holiday card and send it to one of these organizations: USASOA Christmas Cards for our Troops, Laura Landerman-Garber Holiday Card Challenge, or Holiday Mail for Heroes.
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