This week, Rep. Greg Stanton collected more than a thousand handmade valentine cards created by elementary school students in Arizona’s 9th District—their messages are for frontline health care workers and seniors in the community.
Stanton partnered with more than 50 schools across 8 districts to create the hand-drawn paper valentines, as well as audio messages and digital valentines from students learning virtually. The valentines are being delivered today to frontline workers at community health centers, including Native Health, Valle Del Sol, and Mountain Park Tempe. Stanton worked with Meals on Wheels Tempe to deliver the cards to local senior centers with the pre-packaged meals. Some schools also crafted cards for veterans; Stanton’s team delivered them to the VA and Arizona State Veteran Home.
“We’re sending a little love from the community to our frontline workers who have been working tirelessly for nearly a year fighting this pandemic, and I’m so grateful to our students, teachers and administrators for their support and creativity,” said Stanton. “We also wanted to use Valentine’s Day to connect with seniors in our community. The pandemic has been especially tough on them too, as so many seniors have been separated from their families. Senior isolation is a growing challenge, and we’re finding ways to confront that—even small gestures like this can make a big difference.”
Stanton’s team has been working for the last few weeks with administrators and teachers from Balsz, Cartwright, Scottsdale, Chandler, Mesa, Tempe Union, Tempe Elementary and Madison School Districts to collect the cards.
“Arredondo was so excited to participate in Congressman Stanton's Valentines program this year. During these times when so much is out of our control, especially for kids, we thought it was important for our Roadrunners to have this opportunity to see how they can make the world a better place and that they have that power with them every day,” said Alison M. Bruening-Hamati, Principal of Arredondo Elementary in Tempe.
“These cards really brightened up our day. It’s been a tough year. Our team has been working very hard to ensure people get the care they need, while also dealing with the realities of the pandemic on their own lives, so it means the world that the community is behind us,” said Dr. John Swagert, CEO of Mountain Park Health Center.
Last year, Stanton’s office partnered with more than a dozen schools to deliver Valentine’s Day cards to local veterans.
More photos and videos from Stanton’s Valentine’s Day initiative are available on Facebook and Google.