Andy Tullis / The BulletinSt. Francis School social studies teacher Terri Logan gives students some ideas about what they can write in their letters to the local National Guard soldiers recently deployed in Afghanistan. Students wrote letters Tuesday to the bravo company of the Bend-based Oregon Army National Guard 1-82 Cavalry Squadron.

By Megan Kehoe

The Bulletin

Students in Terri Logan’s St. Francis School social studies class were drawing tinsel-covered Christmas trees Tuesday morning.

They were drawing snowmen wearing scarves, rotund Santa Clauses and the words “Merry Christmas!” in large, cheerful scrawl on cards.

Logan has made sure her students are getting a head start on writing these Christmas cards. Because she knows it may take a long time for them to get to Afghanistan.

“I was just about to send Michael a box of things a couple of months ago, and I thought, ‘I bet my students would enjoy doing this and getting to know somebody over there who went to the same school,’” said Logan, a middle school teacher at St. Francis School in Bend. “Since then, it’s grown way bigger than I ever planned.”Tuesday, a group of about 30 middle-schoolers spent part of their history class writing letters and making cards for the soldiers of the recently deployed Bend-based Oregon Army National Guard 1-82 Cavalry Squadron. Logan’s godson, Michael Mangin, 25, is a former St. Francis student and is now part of the squadron in Afghanistan. Logan started getting her students involved with sending care packages and cards to Mangin shortly after the squadron was deployed in late August. In the weeks since Logan started the letter-writing campaign, not only has the entire eighth grade started writing cards to Mangin, but the whole school has also joined in, and is now sending these packages to the 70-plus soldiers in the squadron as well.

“It kind of grew from taking care of our guy, to sharing the love with the whole group,” Logan said.

Logan is working to “adopt” the squadron, which will allow the National Guard to release the first names of the soldiers. For now, students address their letters to “Dear Soldier,” and the care packages are addressed to Mangin, who distributes the cards to the rest of the soldiers. Students have sent two boxes of cards and letters. This Christmas, Logan anticipates sending quite a few more.

“When other faculty members heard I was doing this, they jumped on board right away,” Logan said. “It went from one box of love, to what will probably be 70 boxes. And I’m thinking to myself, ‘That’s going to be $700 in shipping!’”

Logan will be accepting donations from the community to help pay for shipping costs.

Students started class Tuesday by pulling out sheets of notebook paper, or in some cases, their laptops, to write letters to go with their festive Christmas cards. Most students filled their page with questions.

“I wanted to know what they do in their spare time there,” said Raymond Link, 12. “And I wanted to know if they’re allowed to have any dogs.”

Raymond said he loves dogs and has a Rottweiler mix at home. He said he thought having dogs in Afghanistan would probably be helpful for the soldiers, because dogs are good at calming people.

“They’re good for therapy,” Raymond said. “They’re a man’s best friend.”

Stevie Fawcett, 12, asked in his letter what day-to-day life was like at the base. He also wanted to know whether the soldier he was writing to had a favorite sports team. Stevie has two teams he roots for: the Oregon Ducks and the Portland Timbers.

“I think it will help them to get these letters,” Stevie said. “I think it must be nice to get something from home.”

Logan reminded students that most likely, they won’t receive any individual responses from the soldiers because of the unpredictability of their work. Becoming pen pals would be very unlikely, she told students. But still, some kids are holding out hope for a response.

“I hope they answer back,” said Stella Hyde, 13, who also made a bright red Christmas card to go along with her letter. “It would be cool if they did.”

Around the corner from Logan’s classroom hangs a bulletin board dedicated to Mangin and the squadron. A copy of Mangin’s fourth-grade class picture is tacked on one side, next to a printout of the recent email he’s sent to the students at St. Francis thanking them for the care packages.

“Knowing that one of them used to go to school here makes it feel like there’s more of a connection,” Alison Bonn, 12, said. “Just knowing that he walked in the same halls we walk through everyday makes it more real.”

—Reporter: 541-383-0354,

mkehoe@bendbulletin.com.