Chicagoans Record Holiday Greetings For Deployed Soldiers

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Bowen JROTC cadets Kia Cooper, senior, left, and Lynnesse Esterling, senior, right, with seventh-grader Camryn Miguest of Arnold Mireles Middle School Cadet Corps, record a holiday video greeting for military personnel Dec. 15 at the Ill. Center for Broadcasting-Chicago Campus studio, 530 S. State St. Leading up to Christmas, ICB offered military family and friends, and supporters, an opportunity to record a digital care package to send to troops. The video greetings were offered free of charge. (Photo Credit: Rhonda Gillespie)
Bowen JROTC cadets Kia Cooper, senior, left, and Lynnesse Esterling, senior, right, with seventh-grader Camryn Miguest of Arnold Mireles Middle School Cadet Corps, record a holiday video greeting for military personnel Dec. 15 at the Ill. Center for Broadcasting-Chicago Campus studio, 530 S. State St. Leading up to Christmas, ICB offered military family and friends, and supporters, an opportunity to record a digital care package to send to troops. The video greetings were offered free of charge. (Photo Credit: Rhonda Gillespie)

What started out as a few broadcasting instructors and students wanting to do something special for U.S. service men and women this holiday season ballooned into a project involving scores of people.

Leading up to Christmas, the Illinois Center for Broadcasting (ICB) has been offering families, friends and general supporters of deployed military personnel to send a video greeting to troops. The digital care packages were offered free of charge.

Over the last several weeks, a small video production crew on Thursdays was stationed on State Street between Randolph and Lake Streets, with the iconic Chicago Theatre in the background, inviting passersby to record their own personal holiday well-wish. ICB took care of editing the videos, then passing them along to troops deployed all around the world. ICB also provided people a link to their greeting they could share themselves.

Our students and staff are staunch supporters of our troops, and we are humbled to be able to give back and donate our resources to our service members in such a meaningful way, said ICB Chicago Campus Executive Director William Natale. Both Chicago area ICB campuses, including Lombard, three campuses in Ohio (Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati) and the one campus in Denver all participated in the holiday virtual greeting effort.

ICB staff and students sympathize with troops and their families being apart this time of year, ICB spokeswoman Lindsay Hoey told the Chicago Citizen. The digital care packages help to spread holiday cheer and offer people a chance to express their gratitude to the troops.

Hoey pointed out that the ICB Chicago campus alone has recorded 400 video greetings so far.

Thank you people said over and over in their video greeting, often referring to the service men and women as our heroes. A majority of the greetings encouraged the troops to come home safely.

Ill. Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon was among those who created a greeting across from the theater. She chuckled about her singing on the video but the message, she said, was no less heartfelt.

The main message is one of thanks to those who folks who are away from home at the holiday time because theyre serving our country. They serve not only us but people around the world by way of peacekeeping in many parts of the world; and thanks is a good place to start, Simon told the Chicago Citizen.

We ask a lot out of military families thats why its easy to do what we can to support them, she added.

Marvin Conwell recorded a message to troops. The Roseland community resident said he is proud of the work military men and women do for the country.

These guys are over there putting it on the line, he told the Chicago Citizen after taping his message. I just want to honor them.

Hoey said this was the first year for the project, but it could return next year.

Those who could not make it down to record across from the theater were able to make an appointment to come into the Chicago campus studio, located at 530 S. State St. Cadets from Bowen high school Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and Arnold Mireles Elementary Academy Middle School Cadet Corps were among those who recorded in-studio.

Bowens senior Army instructor, SFC Richard Newton (Ret.), accompanied the group to the ICB studio. The Army veteran, who served 23 years active duty, including service in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, said the video technology used Thursday for his JROTC cadets to salute the troops did not exist when he was enlisted. Hes proud to salute the troops and have his cadets be part of it.

Newton said when he was on active duty he remembers the care packages family and others sent, especially during the holidays. He appreciated them.

With their greeting, his cadets help bring a smile to service members face thats overseas and let them see that were thinking about you and were caring about you this (holiday) season, Newton said.

Mireles Asst. Principal Dequonce Marbury, who accompanied the schools MSCC cadets for the ICB greeting, is also a military veteran. He served four years in the U.S. Army.

Specialist Marbury expects the digital greetings to be as moving for todays troops as the care packages and other well-wishes were for him and his comrades when he was active duty.

The cadets and others who did their greeting in-studio taped in a room of green walls. But the edit put them on a holiday-themed background or one with a waving U.S. flag.

Theyre touching. They make us feel great about what were doing. They make us wake up the next morning and go harder for our country, Marbury said.

By Rhonda Gillespie

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