Lake Oconee Academy students were thrilled to receive letters from a U.S. soldier serving in Afghanistan this week.  The 1st grade class of Mrs. Kelly Ingle eagerly opened their letters to find words of thanks and appreciation for the letters he received from LOA students.

LOA students participated in Atlanta radio station Q100’s The Bert Show’s “Big Thank You” in October of last year.  The campaign was launched to gather 400,000 letters for service members overseas to receive by Thanksgiving.  The heartfelt letters of encouragement and pictures expressed the students’ appreciation for the service of the men and women serving in the military.  “In my letter, I thanked him for being so brave,” said 1st grade student Carli Marasco.

After almost three months, the students were honored to receive a reply from LTC Callahan, also a Georgia resident.  He is currently stationed in Afghanistan after serving in Kuwait.  The students were interested to learn that Kuwait is very hot and that he saw a lot of camels there.  They look forward to writing back to their new friend in the U.S. military.

LOA 1st grade students proudly display their letters from LTC Callahan.