Happy Valentine's Day, Vets! Love, Redwood Shores Elementary

As many working adults receive hundreds and hundreds of emails flooding their inboxes, second graders are learning the age-old skill of writing letters as part of the curriculum. And what better way to craft this skill than send Valentine's Day letters to veterans?

At Redwood Shores Elementary, teachers Nadia Moskaluk and MayJean Martin created 112 Valentines with their second graders to send to Bay Area veterans.

"This is definitely the start of something that will be a tradition," Principal Cherie Ho said. "The students were very excited about this project and parents got involved, instructing students what they could write to Veterans."

After the Valentines were drawn, written, folded and pasted with love, parent Dana Ascher and her son Jake, along with friend Dylan Sabahi, personally delivered the Valentines to Speier's office. Speier was available in person to thank the boys and gave them each a pin for their efforts.

"She was so sweet to give them each a momento for this occasion," Ho said. "They also received mousepads with the U.S. House of Representatives logo on it."

More than 3,000 Valentine's Day cards are being delivered to Bay Area veterans from students at San Mateo County Schools, including:

• 38 from the Redwood Church Sunday School
• 44 from
• 31 from the McKinley Institute of Technology
• 46 from

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo/ San Francisco, mobilized the effort by asking about 50 Peninsula schools to write the holiday cards to thank servicemen and women for their sacrifice and work in the military, according to a statement from the congresswoman's office.

"I am deeply touched by the heartfelt comments and beautiful art our students have created," Speier said. "They clearly care about the sacrifices made by our veterans.

The cards came from students ranging in age from two to 20 years old, Speier said.

Some of the valentines were delivered to veterans at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System on Friday and another batch will go out today to veterans at Fort Miley VA Medical Center in San Francisco.

Moskaluk's boyfriend and sister are in the military so this effort is particularly special to her, according to Ho.

"This isn't just a Valentine's Day effort," Ho said. "It's one of many to show that we're thinking of our Veterans."

--Bay City News contributed to this article.