Since her brother was killed in combat in Iraq last year, Alexa DelGreco has received countless letters of support from all over the nation.
“It’s strangely comforting to get them,” said DelGreco, an administrative assistant in the School of Nursing, in an e-mail.
DelGreco’s brother, Felix, a former student at Northeastern, was sent to Iraq last March as part of the Army National Guard in New Haven, Conn., and was killed in April when an improvised explosive device and small arms fire struck his mounted patrol.
Since then, DelGreco said her mother has been working with a program called U.S. Supports Our Soldiers (USSOS), which was based out of Connecticut until it recently went national.
Last year, the Connecticut chapter of the program organized a drive in Felix’s name to send school supplies to the children of Iraq.
“Felix was so interested in the children and helping the children and the people of Iraq, we collect items for the children,” said Lisa Cotterman, founder and president of the organization.
Cotterman is currently organizing a second drive in Felix’s name to send both school necessities and supplies to local orphanages in Iraq. She has recruited Felix’s mother to help return phone calls for the USSOS based out of Canton, Conn., a neighboring town to Simsbury, where Felix was from.
His father, Felix DelGreco, Sr., is preparing to host his second golf tournament to raise money for the Sgt. Felix DelGreco, Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund. The first tournament last summer raised over $25,000. The scholarship fund was managed by the Connecticut National Guard for children of the soldiers and the local Boy Scout Troop.
DelGreco said her letters have mostly come from school children all over the nation.
Since the war began in the spring of 2003, people of all ages from around the world have had the chance to express their appreciation for the troops overseas or their sympathy to the families of fallen soldiers.
Aaron Mighty, the creator and president of a program called Dear American Soldiers based out of Orlando, Fla., remembers one e-mail he received, several pages long and addressed to the troops. The last line of the letter said its writer was 13 years old.
“It was just amazing to realize … that even a 13-year-old can take a few minutes to write something so heartfelt was fantastic,” said Mighty, a graduate student at the University of Central Florida. “And I think that’s one of the moments when I realized that that campaign is a good campaign.”
Mighty began his drive to recruit e-mails from across the world for the troops and their families on Christmas Day 2004. Since then he has received around 2,200 e-mails, which he prints out and disperses. His goal is to have 5,000 by May.
Mighty said he has seen a particularly large showing of support from college students in the last few weeks.
“I know a lot of times, even nowadays, people think college students don’t really care about too much besides their school work, partying and having a good time,” he said. “This is really a very easy and simple way for college students to participate.”
Cotterman cited other ways for college students to get involved, including talking to their local bars about hosting charity nights, selling armbands and sponsoring letter-writing drives themselves.
“I find that people are creative,” Cotterman said. “They come up with their own ideas of what they want to do. Let them be inspired by what they think would be a hit.”
Other organizations are also in place across the country that allow everyone, including students, to become involved. Mighty said the largest letter writing campaign in existence in the United States at the current time was founded by a 15-year-old, Shauna Fleming.
The program, A Million Thanks, has received over 1.25 million letters since last year, Mighty said. He said he sends some of his e-mails to the program.
My Soldier, founded by Sgt. Juan Salas, a student at Manhattanville College, allows interested parties to “adopt” individual soldiers, submit the name of a soldier who would like to be “adopted” or submit money to the campaign.
“It’s always good to know that people care, because a lot of times, you can say we’re split on the war, we’re 50/50 on both sides of the war whether we support it or not, but I think without a doubt, most Americans will tell you that we support our troops,” Mighty said.
To send an e-mail to Dear American Soldiers, write to [email protected]. For information on the Felix DelGreco tribute drive, visit www.ussos.org. To learn more about the My Soldier program, visit www.mville.edu/mysoldier/index.html.
