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Community Corner

Operation: Hope for Marines

Local high school students are collecting letters to send to the 8th Marine Regiment in Afghanistan.

From more than 7,000 miles away, Danville teen Gianno Parenti is trying to make a difference in the lives of the 2,000 soldiers of the 8th Marine Regiment in Afghanistan.

When he heard that his friend Austin was writing letters to Marines for his senior project in Washington, Parenti asked how he could help.

“Both Austin and I have an interest in this because we both want to go into the Marines,” he said. “He actually has already enlisted. He isn’t a member of the 8th Marine Regiment but he does have a contact in that regiment.”

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Austin obtained permission from a Marine captain to provide Parenti with an address through which he could send letters to the Marines.

Parenti began by setting up a letter-writing station at Venture School in late April. But there was very little response from his classmates; by the end of the school year he had collected only seven letters.

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Parenti revived his project in June when he attended , where the campers were required to organize group service projects. Parenti’s group, which includes incoming high-school seniors from  and , agreed to work together to reach Parenti’s goal of 2,000 letters by the end of summer. They are calling their project Operation: Hope for Marines.

“I hope to get all 2,000 letters by August and ship them out before my contact gets back from his deployment,” Parenti said.

He and the other members of his service project group have been spreading the word through Facebook and emails, but they are still a long way from reaching their goal. They would greatly appreciate help from the Danville community.

Anyone can make a difference by taking a few moments to write a letter. Start it "Dear Marine," thank the Marine for his or her service, and write about something upbeat; simply tell the Marine about yourself or share a funny story. Then send it to P.O. Box 1775, Danville, CA 94526. Parenti and his team will read the letters to make sure they are appropriate for passing on to the Marines.

“It only takes two minutes to write a letter,” Parenti wrote on the Facebook page for his project. “If you don’t want to mail it to me … I’ll even come and pick it up from your house! I know you appreciate all their hard work! Show these Marines your support!”

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