A special gesture
BMS students show their thanks with cards for veterans
At least 20 local veterans have been especially recognized for their service to America through a special project at the Burton Middle School Boys & Girls Club.
The “Thank You for Your Service – Veterans Card Service Project” was the brainchild of local club staff Jennifer Aquila. The hand-made cards are original designs by the club’s seventh and eighth grade members.
A stroll along Porterville’s Main Street was Aquila’s impetus for the project.
“When I walk down Main, I see all these banners of people who have served our country through the decades,” she reflected. “And I felt pride for our country and our little community here.”
Porterville’s Main street light standards are adorned with banners, featuring the active duty service portrait and name of a Portervillearea veteran.
Aquila isn’t one to keep that pride all to herself, and saw her position as the Bms-based club program specialist as a way to share that passion.
“I want our members to feel that pride as well,” she said of her after-school students.
Although this is the first Veterans Day that the club at BMS has made the cards, the club members are familiar with service-oriented projects.
Each year the Boys & Girls Club is required to do a number of “inhouse” and “out-ofhouse” service projects with their members. Last year’s “in-house” project involved creating homemade dog treats. Aquila’s site director took these treats to the animal shelter in Lindsay. For last year’s out-of-house service project, BMS student club members went to Murry Park for a beautification project of picking up trash.
For this year’s community service project, Aquila wanted the students to combine their creative abilities with their passion for doing good for others.
“I wanted the members at our club to be able to use their artistic side to create cards that would make a small difference in someone’s
life,” Aquila said.
It is hard to gauge how small or how big that difference might be, but Aquila and her members are willing to try, regardless if they ever know the level of impact their artwork has had.
At least twenty veterans will benefit to some degree from the Bmsbased Boys & Girls Club service project.
Ten cards will be going to Gateway Post Acute (formerly Valley Care Center) for patients there that are veterans. The other ten will be going to the Veterans Memorial Building on Olive Avenue. But Aquila has set higher goals.
“We will deliver more if we can get them made,” she promised.
Regardless of the number, each card will be unique. Members were provided art supplies — paper, markers, stamps and ink, etc. — and are turning their original ideas into a physical product.
“Our members are very creative and enjoy the opportunity to do this for our community,” said Aquila, who has been on the BMS site since August of 2017.
The students have not only taken on the artistic venture of creating the cards, but have also shown an appreciation for the reasons behind their artwork.
Reporting that her 70 members have been “excited and eager” to make the cards, Aquila has witnessed them being “very attentive and receptive when I explain why we are making these cards and why these cards are important.”
During the weeks leading up to the November 11 Veterans Day observance Aquila had been sharing a history lesson as well with her members.
“I have been telling the members that some
veterans have come home and they have never heard ‘thank you.’ I want to be sure that they at least hear that ‘thank you’ from us.”
Aquila, who has completed two years of general education classes at Porterville College, has her sights set on entering the Radiology Technician Program at Bakersfield College.
The program at BMS offers assistance in homework, and unfinished or missing classroom assignments. Students are also offered academically-enriching activities, including reading, writing, and drawing. It also currently offers Photography Club, Cooking Club, Art Club, Flag Football, and Basketball. Offerings are added anew every ten weeks.
The Boys & Girls Club at Burton Middle School is one of eight such clubs in Porterville. Each have an impact on their communities.