School launches Operation Santa

Sisters Elementary School students will help bring a little Christmas cheer to a platoon of U.S. Marines in Iraq. Theirs will be part of a larger effort organized by a statewide group that calls itself Marine Corps Moms.

Through what they call Operation Santa, the Marine Corps Moms, based in Salem, have been asking a wide variety of groups to "sponsor" platoons, which consist of 30 to 40 Marines. Each platoon will receive a box containing individual Christmas stockings for the Marines plus games, food, decorations and treats for the platoon to share. Church groups, service clubs and many others are helping out.

Sisters Elementary School became involved because this fall the school acquired a new special education teacher, Betsy Leighty, who replaces a teacher who resigned at the end of last year.

In addition to an extensive educational background, Leighty is a retired officer with the Oregon National Guard. She had a long career in the Guard and is still tuned in to military affairs.

In addition, she is a longtime personal friend of Connie Riecke of Salem, who is one of the leaders of the Marine Corps Moms. Leighty thought it would be a good project for her newly adopted school to participate in Operation Santa, so she sent a letter to each of her fellow teachers inviting their classes to join in.

Her letter explained: "I have given each classroom two stockings to fill with goodies and ask that you have students write letters or cards to include in the big box o'stuff. The big box o'stuff will be shared by the entire platoon (i.e., games, books, food items, etc.) so those contributions are welcome. We can also use cash to pay for the shipping of this package as well."

She included a list of suggestions for both the big gift box (everything from an artificial Christmas tree to board games and Sisters literature) and individual stocking stuffers (telephone calling cards, soap, sunscreen, non-perishable snacks, etc.).

The Sisters box, filled by the students in 17 classrooms, will go to the Motor Transport Platoon, 2/10 Headquarters Battery. That was the group assigned by the central organizers. Leighty said she had nothing to do with the choice and the platoon has no special connection to Central Oregon.

Leighty says that when Connie Riecke and another woman started the project "they were going to do just their sons' platoons. And then they said, 'we probably should do the whole company because the other guys will feel bad.' It's gotten so big now that when I talked to her last time they're gonna provide stockings for 5,000 Marines."