255 letters written by Canton Middle School students sent “in the cloud” and by mail with help of lettrs and ThunderCat Technology
Reston, Va. November 12, 2012 – (PRWEB) – ThunderCat Technology, a federally focused systems integrator, and lettrs, a letter writing and sharing company, have joined together to bring letters back to soldiers overseas. With the energy and creativity of Canton Middle School students, 255 student letters were created for sailors, soldiers, and marines.
ThunderCat lends its support and sponsorship of the program, while lettrs powers the student’s letters “in the cloud” and in the mail. The program is made possible through the student’s letter writing as part of Canton Middle School’s social studies and literacy leanings. As part of care packages, middle school students shared special words with soldier and sailors, and shared them on the digital class “Fridge” to give their cause and letters a broader audience.
In addition to the 255 letters created by students, return envelopes were placed in each letter for the service member to write back. Over 100 of the student letters will be displayed on the school fridge at lettrs.com.
“There is no better purpose to fuse new technology and student energy than the cause of supporting Veterans and soldiers overseas. I am proud that the ‘slower communications’ movement of reinventing letters is starting in my home town for a cause I deeply believe in, especially as a veteran myself. I never met a soldier who did not love a letter, and I never met a student not willing to support someone in times of need,” founder of lettrs, Drew Bartkiewicz commented.
ThunderCat CEO, Tom Deierlein said, “We are excited to be a part of this fledgling program. It brings together many areas of interest to ThunderCat: education, supporting our troops, and helping other early-stage veteran-owned businesses.”
The goal is to bring 10,000 public letter views to those letters by the end of the school year, in support of both soldiers and the students who wrote them. Student, Ryan Enns commented, “Writing a letter to soldiers was as interesting and fun as it was hearing the stories of veterans who wrote them. I hope we can meet our 10,000 visits goal of getting people to read and write letters again.”
Veteran of WWII and Iwo Jima, 88 year old William Gimignani, read one of the letters in a public assembly “I have been carrying this letter for 67 years and I finally had the chance to read it to a broader audience. How thankful I am for that opportunity.” The letter will be archived on the school letters fridge as part of a broader audience.
Joe Schneider, Principal of Canton Middle School, commented on the program and assembly guests that encouraged and educated the students, “Veterans Day has become a very special and important day for our students and our school. It’s an opportunity for your students to recognize the very special service our veterans gave given our country and to learn about the importance of saying thank you to those who served. Who could not have been moved by the letter the William Gimignani wrote at the end of the Iwo Jima campaign and shared with us today? It was also great for the students to hear from one of our youngest veterans, former Canton Middle School student marine Captain Jen Dymicki.”
About lettrs
Recently featured in Mashable, TechCrunch, and CBS, lettrs is a Veteran-Owned Small Business that delivers letter writing and letter sharing “in the cloud.” Specifically, lettrs is a slower communications platform that fuses emerging digital technologies with the craft, tradition, and reinvention of letter writing. Users can create, deliver, and if desired, share paper letters from the past or new letters from today. Built on proprietary data models and already powering new letters from over 60 countries, lettrs is the correspondence choice for people who wish to actually think about they write, and who wish to socialize important letters from their past. https://www.lettrs.com
About ThunderCat Technology
Recently named to Forbes’ “America’s Most Promising Companies” list and currently ranked #125 on the Solution Provider 500, the award winning ThunderCat Technology is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business that delivers technology services and solutions to the federal government and fortune 500 companies. Specifically, ThunderCat is a systems integrator that brings an innovative approach to solving customer problems in and around the datacenter by providing strategies for Data Storage, Networking, Security, and Applications. ThunderCat represents, distributes, integrates, and provides technologies from best of breed manufacturers. Clients include DHS, USACE, HHS, DLA, DFAS, NIH, Navy, Army, VA, and TSA. https://www.thundercattech.com