Lt. John C. Roche VFW Post and the Frances Sherman Auxiliary on Monday honored students and faculty at Floyd C. Fretz Middle School for their efforts to support local veterans.
Showing their support is a year-long effort for the Fretz community.
When Post officials presented the honor — called Youth Groups Supporting Our Veterans — a citation was read aloud that was sent from Colette Bishop, the president of VFW Auxiliary National.
Frances Sherman Auxiliary President Amy Peterson explained, “It’s the award citation for youth groups that do a lot for their community of veterans.”
She noted this is the first time she has been able to nominate groups for the honor.
“They’ve done quite a bit of work and raised over a couple thousand dollars for us — all for local veterans,” said Peterson.
“We appreciate what you do for the veterans,” said VFW Commander Ron Peters after the award was presented.
Money that was raised throughout the school year was also shared with local nursing homes, and a special collection was taken for the Pennsylvania Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in Erie.
“We do all kinds of fundraisers for them,” said Judy Abbey, the faculty member who is head of the student council at Fretz.
Abbey explained that fundraisers include projects such as Penny Wars, hat or pajama days and sale of healthy snacks. They’ve even just taken a collection of donations in a jar.
The school community doesn’t just support veterans by fundraising.
“The school always does something special on Veterans Day,” Abbey said. Among the Veterans Day activities is a flag display the students make: each year students get a flag and write down a names of any veterans they know. The flags are then put on display.
Students also honored many veterans through a superhero project in which every student in the building was asked to choose a superhero.
“A good amount of the kids chose military heroes,” said Abbey. “They like that they protect our country.”
Military members, including local World War II veteran Elmer DeLucia, were invited to the school’s annual Mini Relay for Life.
“When they introduced the military, 600 kids stood up,” said Abbey.
