Students Spread Kindness To Paramus Veterans With Valentines Cards

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — Compassion is a two-way street.

That is the lesson that Martha B. Day Elementary School is working to instill in young people as early as possible, and on Tuesday, the school provided the opportunity to demonstrate that important life skill by making Valentines for local veterans at Paramus Veterans Memorial Home.

Students in Mrs. Tamra Holzi's class made Valentine's Day cards, with help from Rep. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) who then hand-delivered the cards to the veterans to thank them for their service, the congressman and Principal Denise Glenn said.

"Having the backs of our veterans and our active-duty service members is one of my top priorities in Congress,” Gottheimer said. "I am so proud of all the students participating for recognizing the sacrifices our brave men and women make every single day.”

Making Valentines for veterans, Principal Glenn said, was a simple activity to demonstrate to students — many of whom have family members who have served or are serving in the military — that "by making other people happy, we can be happy ourselves."

"Watching our students make the cards brought joy to them, their teachers and the entire MBD community," Glenn added.

Not only did Mrs. Holzi's class make cards, so did every other class at the school. In fact, a total of more than 200 cards reached the hands of a veteran Tuesday evening.

Teaching children empathy, kindness toward others and happiness are part of the Social Emotional Learning program at Martha B. Day, which serves pre-K through first grade in Bloomingdale, the principal said.

"Developing these qualities in the classroom can help students become better, and socially aware citizens outside of the classroom," Glenn said. "Part of the school-community connection is to develop these qualities at an early age together."

The student-made cards were also delivered to local American Legion posts and VFW posts, as part of an annual effort organized by Congressman Gottheimer.

“We owe the freedoms we enjoy, living in the greatest country in the world, to those who fight to protect and defend those freedoms every day," Gottheimer said in a statement. "This is just one small way we can say thank you to them for their service."

"We must always get the backs of those who’ve bravely had ours," he added.