CHS Students Spread Warmth to Soldiers Overseas

Students at Cranford High School worked with Operation Jersey Cares to create quilts for soldiers. The quilts, baring the American flag, will be distributed to service men and women who have been wounded in conflict.

Sewing teacher Barbara Narus learned of the project through Janice Jamison, who gives a quilting workshop at the school twice a year.

With funds from the Service Learning Grant, Narus was able to purchase 40 quilting kits through Jersey Cares. For their practical final exam, 27 students in Narus’ sewing course created a quilt top in two hours. Jamison completed the quilts, and the final products were presented to Operation Jersey Cares and Marine Corps Sergeant Dominic Monaco and Gunnery Sergeant Mario Monaco.

The Monaco brothers also manufacture their own clothing line, Susana Monaco, and helped provide the fabric for the quilts from their factory in Passaic. The brothers awarded the students with Certificates of Appreciation to thank them for their hard work.

“All the quilts go to the wounded warriors,” Sgt. Monaco said. “They go to the men and women who fought in Afghanistan, Iraq, or any other place in the world. We try to give them a little quilt to say, ‘Thank you very much for what you do.’”

“Ever since I’ve been working, I’ve firmly believed in Service Learning,” Narus said. “I’ve always done it because I think it makes learning meaningful. Today, we’re celebrating the work that you did for our troops who are coming home after serving and sacrificing. I want you to be recognized and honored for your work because it’s important to me as a teacher and to people in the community.”

“The service learning we do here at Cranford High School gives our students to opportunity to make learning come alive and there’s purpose to it,” Principal Rui Dionisio said. “There’s really a lot of meaning. It takes learning to the next level because they see where it’s going and makes a difference in people’s lives.”

Ten more students will complete quilts this semester, bringing the grand donation total to 40. Later this year, Jersey Cares will be shipping over 200 quilts made by children as young as 11 and people as old as 82.

The motto of Operation Jersey Cares is, “One Generation Will Never Forget Another.” The non-profit volunteer organization sends packages to troops overseas filled with goodies from back home to remind them their efforts are appreciated. Liz Hackett, who has been with the organization for four years, said that the gestures, though small, made a world of a difference.

“Can you imagine a soldier over there in the land of sand and craggy mountains, getting a care package with a Spongebob quilt and a hand written note by a kid? Plus all kinds of goodies from home—gum, coffee, Starbursts, Twizzlers—anything that reminds them of home. If it makes a soldier smile, it’s worth the while.”

Hackett added that these projects were the least they could do for those who sacrifice everything to fight for our country.

“There’s no other country like America,” she said. “We’re very generous. We’re expected to do a lot and we do. As long as they’re there, we’re there for them.”