A single act of kindness by a 12-year-old student in Little Elm has grown into a district-wide effort to support military personnel spending the holidays far from home.
Abrielle Chavarrilla first learned about a holiday letter-writing campaign for service members through a local radio show. Rather than simply writing her own letter or urging classmates to join in, she helped bring the effort to her entire school district, where students are now penning handwritten messages to troops stationed around the world.
The initiative, known as "10,000 for the Troops," was launched seven years ago by New Country 96.3 radio hosts Mark "Hawkeye" Louis and Michelle Rodriguez. Each year, the campaign works to gather 10,000 holiday cards for military members who cannot spend the season with their families.
For Chavarrilla, the mission carries personal weight. "It's really meaningful knowing that people I love served in the military and couldn't make it home for some holidays because no one really asks them to do it," she said. "They volunteer themselves and they could be with their family, but instead they're fighting for the country."
The campaign also resonates deeply with Watson Robinson Jr., assistant principal at Jerry R. Walker Middle School and a veteran who served in Iraq. Robinson remembered Marines lining up for mail call each day, with some never receiving anything from home.
He recalled one school in Hawaii that sent hundreds of letters to his unit, letters he passed along to fellow Marines whose mailboxes were empty. "I had a school in Hawaii. They wrote us like 250 letters. And so when those got to Iraq, I went and shared them with all my Marines that didn't get any letters," Robinson said. "It is the biggest morale booster that we had. I mean, food was like when they got us crab and lobster, that was good, but getting a mail is just somebody that cares. And so that was very important. I shared that with her so she would know."
Organizers say the handwritten notes leave a mark on the troops who receive them, but also say plenty about the young writers. "When you see and hold these actual letters, it shows you how caring kids are at such a young age, even their sense of humor," Rodriguez said.
Louis called the students' thoughtfulness one of the most rewarding parts of the effort. "It just really inspires you that the youth of America, the next generation, thinks not of themselves but thinks of others and then thinks of how they can serve a greater cause. That really is, that's pretty cool," he said.
The movement has since drawn the support of Little Elm Mayor Curtis J. Cornelius, who is urging the entire town to participate. The mayor issued a proclamation this month recognizing the letter-writing initiative and its message of support for military personnel, and he hopes to expand the effort citywide.
What started as one student's wish to help is now becoming a community-wide display of gratitude for those serving far from home, built around a simple message to the troops: You are not forgotten.
