MALDEN — Veterans and those actively serving in the military have always held a special place in the hearts of community service-minded Malden Catholic High School students.
For their exemplary commitment to the program, the school’s Lancers-in-Action student group has been named recipient of the first-ever iPods for Wounded Veterans Catholic Service Award. A ceremony and award presentation was held at the school for Lancers in Action by the national group.
“Malden Catholic has been dedicated since 2011 in helping injured service men and women and I’m proud of MC,” said iPods for Wounded Warriors founder Paul Cardello, who told the Lancers, “You took it upon yourselves to do something about it instead of standing on the sidelines.”
The group and others associated with the schoolwide Campus Ministry program have dedicated a great deal of effort and intention toward brightening the days of those actively serving in the military as well as those who have completed their service.
They have prepared “care packages” and sent letters to those serving overseas around the holidays or conducting used cellphone drives that collect devices which can be reconditioned and then sent to servicemen and women.
Lancers-in-Action members have also visited veterans at the Chelsea Soldiers Home, and volunteered at Barnes and Noble Book Fairs in Burlington on Veterans Day and Memorial Day weekends, greeting customers and honoring veterans.
The Lancers in Action student service group got involved with the iPods for Wounded Veterans organization in its very first year and since 2011 has made raising funds and collecting iPods for those wounded in military services one of its many projects.
According to Cardello, when he and fellow veteran John Parker learned that wounded veterans recovering in military hospitals around the nation were frequently requesting a chance to listen to music during their treatment and recovery periods, they immediately began putting together a collection of iPods.
They made their first trip to the largest military hospital in the nation, Walter Reed Military Medical Center, in the Washington D.C. suburb of Bethesda, Md., distributing 32 iPods, but they soon realized those were not nearly enough. They came back to Massachusetts and started raising money for another trip and several weeks later, returned with enough iPods and other music-playing gifts for every wounded soldier they met.
Malden Catholic students David Sarno, a senior and junior Nick Scarpello are the co-coordinators of the Lancers in Action activities associated with volunteer opportunities geared to veterans.
“It is a huge honor for our students and our school,” said Malden Catholic Assistant Principal for Student Life Jeff Smith. “It is such a worthy cause for our students. It really hits home as many of our students and staff have family members and friends who are actively serving or have served in the military.”
In saluting the Lancers, Cardello related that many of these veterans who are recipients of gifts through the organization are single, double or triple amputees, have traumatic brain injuries, and/or suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), and often need intensive rehabilitation which can require extensive hospital stays. Gifts from iPods for Wounded Veterans provides a diversion, which can ease the boredom and repetition of the recovery process.
Cardello noted that IPods for Wounded is an all-volunteer organization and that the element of student volunteerism such as the work of Lancers-in-Action made for a great partnership.
For more information on iPods for Wounded Veterans, it is available at ipodsforwoundedveterans.org.
