CUMBERLAND—Kristen Lane was watching television during Thanksgiving and watched the story of Savannah Madison, 14-year-old girl whose hobby was collecting letters from people nationwide and sending them to Troops serving abroad.

            Those few minutes sparked Lane to have her fourth-grade students at Garvin Memorial School write letters to Madison’s “Savannah’s Soldiers” campaign. This week, her class will be writing letters thanking them for their service to the country and encouraging them to have happy thoughts as they think of their families. According to Madison’s webpage, Lane’s class is the first from Rhode Island to submit letters.

            “When I saw the story on TODAY, it moved me to do something,” she said. “I thought our kids can show their support for our troops and learn more about the world around them, that there are people who put their lives on the line for us every day. After seeing Savannah’s piece on TV, I knew this would be a win-win lesson for my students.”

            Madison lives in South Florida and came up with the letter-writing campaign to not only thank the brave men and women who serve our Armed Forces, but to continue doing so, “until all of them come home,” according to her website. She is looking for schools across the country to help in this campaign and has enlisted the help of the Miami Marlins’ baseball team to help in the drive.

            “Freedom is something that we do not think about often as kids living in the United States but I have come to know that there are many men and women who leave their families behind to allow us the freedoms that we enjoy here. We need to support our troops even if just with a letter. We need to let them know that we support them and are thankful for their service to our wonderful country,” said Madison on her website.

Any school that would like to help Madison in this endeavor may visit Madison’s website at http://savannahmaddison.com/savannahs-soldiers for more information.