2008 Woodie Awards
Merton hall's resident assistants support the troops
Jennifer Spinelli
Issue date: 2/22/07 Section: Features
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The Merton Hall Resident Assistants recently came together to send care packages overseas to our troops in Iraq.
"The Merton Hall staff had been tossing around the idea of doing a program for the troops, for almost the entire year I was just first one to submit a program planner to actually get one started," said Robert W. Rood, senior, Shelton.
"I actually know a few people in the service, as well as lots of friends that have gone over to Iraq or Afghanistan. I have heard stories about how simple things from home like a letter, a magazine, ziplock bags can make their lives easier and it boosts their morale to get support from individual people at home," said Rood.
"This amount is way more than we anticipated. We originally figured around $100 dollars is what we would be able to raise. We actually expanded the program quite a bit and we did collections in Merton, Seton, and Christian Witness commons," said Rood.
"Students were not the only donors, faculty from the Computer Science department contributed a significant amount also," said Rood.
"At first, I was skeptical of the idea of raising money by going door to door but we were all pleasantly surprised by the generosity of the residents we encountered. I would say that roughly 90% of the residents we approached were not only willing to contribute, but were particularly enthusiastic about it," said Gabriel Garcia, junior, Coram, NY.
RA Shaun Ihasz and Garcia collected over $200 from Christian Witness Commons alone on Friday February 9th.
"It's great to see that much support for our troops, especially when you keep hearing about how controversial this war is, that that many people are not taking it out on the troops, and are supporting them," said RA Daniel Yngstrom, senior, Merrick, N.Y.
"We bought things like- dental floss, chap-stick ziplock bags, candy, mouthwash toothpaste, beef jerkey. Some of these items had practical uses like the ziplock bags and things like cookies candy and stuff is mostly for comfort, plus the troops often like to share candy and stuff with locals," said Rood.
"The Merton Hall staff had been tossing around the idea of doing a program for the troops, for almost the entire year I was just first one to submit a program planner to actually get one started," said Robert W. Rood, senior, Shelton.
"I actually know a few people in the service, as well as lots of friends that have gone over to Iraq or Afghanistan. I have heard stories about how simple things from home like a letter, a magazine, ziplock bags can make their lives easier and it boosts their morale to get support from individual people at home," said Rood.
"This amount is way more than we anticipated. We originally figured around $100 dollars is what we would be able to raise. We actually expanded the program quite a bit and we did collections in Merton, Seton, and Christian Witness commons," said Rood.
"Students were not the only donors, faculty from the Computer Science department contributed a significant amount also," said Rood.
"At first, I was skeptical of the idea of raising money by going door to door but we were all pleasantly surprised by the generosity of the residents we encountered. I would say that roughly 90% of the residents we approached were not only willing to contribute, but were particularly enthusiastic about it," said Gabriel Garcia, junior, Coram, NY.
RA Shaun Ihasz and Garcia collected over $200 from Christian Witness Commons alone on Friday February 9th.
"It's great to see that much support for our troops, especially when you keep hearing about how controversial this war is, that that many people are not taking it out on the troops, and are supporting them," said RA Daniel Yngstrom, senior, Merrick, N.Y.
"We bought things like- dental floss, chap-stick ziplock bags, candy, mouthwash toothpaste, beef jerkey. Some of these items had practical uses like the ziplock bags and things like cookies candy and stuff is mostly for comfort, plus the troops often like to share candy and stuff with locals," said Rood.
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