CONTACT:  Wendy V. Long, Public Relations

                        (413) 685-1003

New Health Teacher already tied up – with ribbon projects

Huntington- Heather Bowen, the new health teacher at Gateway Regional High School, is already tied up in ribbons, which will be used to promote awareness throughout the Gateway complex.

October is breast cancer awareness month, and she will be distributing packets with pink ribbons and information to all high school staff.  In turn, the staff are invited to give ribbons to anyone else—students, family, friends, other district staff.  “And hopefully keep and wear one themselves,” added Bowen.

She will be doing another ribbon project in December—red ribbons will be distributed to mark Aids awareness month.

But the project closest to her heart is November, when she will not only distribute yellow ribbons to anyone who would like one, but collect donated items from students and staff to send to troops overseas.  “The soldiers have provided a wish list of sorts, and I have added a few things to the list that I know they would appreciate,” said Bowen, whose brother did a tour in Afghanistan and loved receiving letters and phone cards.

“I am collecting next week and again in November, to send items out in time for the holidays.  Hopefully we will get a response from our troops if they have any down time, and we can keep everyone updated.”

Her wish list from soldiers includes:  poker chips, baseballs, baseball gloves (new or used), CDs/DVDs, small snack foods, mini battery-powered fans, bandana cool ties, hand-held video games, jump drives, disposable cameras, phone cards and personal letters of support.

Bowen has also asked teachers to do writing projects in their classrooms and advisories, in order to generate lots of letters for the packages.