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Desert Edge students send letters to war heroes

BY LAUREN SERRATO

West Valley View Staff Writer

As fall sports are gearing up, one local high school is looking to make a difference during the second game of the varsity football season.

Desert Edge High School is partnering with Nothing But Love Notes for a second time to honor America’s war heroes and first responders. This year’s event will take place during the game against Westview on Friday, Sept. 10, which has also been deemed first responder night.

The game will recognize all first responders for their time, dedication and service in honor of the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

“This celebrates the memory and lives of those that were lost,” said Julie Jones, Desert Edge’s principal.

“Most of our students weren’t even born when this happened. It’s important to make sure that it’s not forgotten. We want to recognize those who have and still serve for us, our veterans, our first responders, inviting them out to our game for free admission.”

Partnering with Nothing But Love Notes was an easy decision, Jones said, based on the success and positive experience with the program last year.

“We had such a wonderful experience the first round of working with the campaign and the type of letters that our students were writing,” Jones said.

“We could just see the positive impact that it was having for our community and the first responders. Even more so, when students are involved in these types of activities it boosts their self-confidence and their self-awareness of when you are making others feel better about themselves, then they naturally feel better about themselves,” she said.

Nothing But Love Notes’ founder, Natalie Reilly, will collect letters from the community at the football game.

Reilly started her love notes mission in 2016, when her mother underwent 19 rounds of chemotherapy. She said they were in search of something to take their minds off their misery as a cancer patient and as a caregiver.

“We sat down and, for a couple of hours, we wrote thank-you notes to hand out,” she said. “Then we got in the car and for three hours we drove around, just within a few miles of my house. We saw a police officer pumping gas, so we stopped to give him a note; and the cars who had veteran plates, we would leave the notes on the cars. I noticed immediately she was starting to light up again. It gave her purpose. It gave me purpose, outside of just surviving her diagnosis,” Reilly said.

Together, the mother-daughter duo wrote notes to veterans, law enforcement officers and firefighters. Quickly they realized the public could help.

More than 25,000 letters have been written to war heroes and first responders.

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VALLEYWIDE SERVICE • 602-550-7732 Reilly said it only took a couple love notes to notice the difference a simple handwritten letter makes in the lives of others.

“In the beginning, it was just to get us out of our melancholy,” she said. “The surprising part and the part that I never anticipated was becoming a part of this community.

“We had run into a Korean War veteran in the grocery store, and he had a cap on. That’s how we recognized him. We gave him a note, and he literally just started to tremble and cry. For 30 minutes we stood in the frozen food aisle and we heard his whole story. It was obvious right away that this was something special.”

At last year’s Desert Edge event, Reilly collected more than 1,000 letters from students. After reading through each letter, she distributes them individually or sends them to police departments or fire stations within the community.

“I’ve seen what these letters can do,” Reilly said. “I’ve seen the power of the pen and what capacity that it has to change somebody’s day. And I’ve had a few first responders say that it can change somebody’s life. I think that is the goal, to continue to push the idea that we don’t have to cure cancer or solve world peace. We can

Desert Edge High School will partner with Nothing But Love Notes for the second time. Last year, students wrote over 1,000 notes to first responders and war heroes. (Photo courtesy of Colleen Koblinski) just write a note to someone and say thank you, and gratitude changes everything.” This year, Jones said she expects an increase in letters. In a time when the community, especially kids, have overcome so much adversity, she said she’s proud to see her students committed to giving back to their community. “Our kids have big hearts,” Jones said. “We as a school always stress the importance of not only taking care of each other here but reaching outside our walls and making the world a better place making our community a better place, because this is where we live.” For more information on Nothing But Love Notes, visit nothingbutlovenotes.com.