Iraq-based Army sergeant corresponds
with first- and second graders
By:Beth Kressel
First- and second-graders at Sunnymead School have a pen pal who they all agree is their hero.
Jeff Fink, 40, is a sergeant first class stationed with the U.S. Army in Iraq. Robyn De Vincentz’s second-graders have partnered with Rosemarie Skavron’s first-graders to write him letters and send him care-packages expressing their admiration for his heroism.
Many of the students involved said the hardest part for Sgt. Fink must be the separation from his wife and daughter, who live in Pennsylvania.
Second-grader Lindsay Scala said Tuesday, "We helped him because he couldn’t be with his family in Iraq."
"I liked when we gave him birthday cards. We gave him cards other friends couldn’t give him," said Lindsay’s classmate Christian Gerry.
The project first began when an Amsterdam School teacher, Diane Leoni, sent an e-mail to a group of her friends this summer. She asked in her letter if people could send birthday wishes to her cousin Jeff stationed in Iraq, explained Mrs. De Vincentz.
"Then the wheels started turning," she said. "And I thought, ‘Why can’t my class write letters to him?’ "
So began a correspondence that started in September and is ongoing.
Mrs. Skavron also joined the project.
In September, the two classes sent their first package to Sgt. Fink. The first-graders colored drawings of balloons in patriotic colors and the older children wrote letters to Sgt. Fink thanking him for his heroism.
"Our school is very involved with sending ‘thank-yous’ to veterans on Veterans Day. We teach what is a veteran and what is patriotism, but the letters are never sent to a specific person. Since Diane is a close friend of mine and this is her cousin, it’s a more personal connection," Mrs. De Vincentz said.
"Be very brave. Let freedom ring," wrote Lindsay in her letter.
"Happy 40th Birthday. Come home soon. Thank you for making our country safe," began Angela Kim’s note.
Later that fall, the Sunnymead students sent two boxes of canned goods and Halloween goodies overseas to Sgt. Fink.
The sergeant, then stationed at a prison in Baghdad, returned the best wishes with a note.
"I appreciated your letters so much, I asked the Air Force to fly a flag in one of their fighter jets for you," he wrote in a letter dated Nov. 5.
Mrs. De Vincentz, sitting in her classroom Dec. 2, unraveled the 2-foot by 4-foot flag, and says she is planning to display it in the Sunnymead School hallway for all students to see.
His letter brought tears to her eyes, she said.
"It was so moving that I changed my lesson plans for that day," she said.
Her students wrote Christmas greetings to their pen pal instead.
Mrs. De Vincentz hopes the letters will reach Sgt. Fink by the holiday.