The little hands of some local elementary school students have
been busy stuffing all the comforts of home into care packages
being shipped to a soldier stationed in Iraq. Classes at Luigi
Aprea are reaching out with letters, photos, beef jerky, disposable
cameras, lip balm, trail mix and candy.
The little hands of some local elementary school students have been busy stuffing all the comforts of home into care packages being shipped to a soldier stationed in Iraq. Classes at Luigi Aprea are reaching out with letters, photos, beef jerky, disposable cameras, lip balm, trail mix and candy.
It’s not just any soldier they are looking after. Enrique Barrera, 20, is a Luigi Aprea and Gilroy High School alum.
His mother, Maria Barrera, is a custodian at Luigi Aprea and marvels at the students’ support.
“It’s a lot of questions from the little kids, but I like it,” she said.
Although she gets a lump in her throat when she talks about her son, she is happy to answer their questions.
“Some kids ask me if he’s got money over there, they ask why he went,” she said.
Enrique Barrera is a computer specialist working with a psychological operations group with the U.S. Army, stationed near the unstable city of Tikrit.
Maria Barrera said communication with her only son is rare. When he finds the time, he writes her a quick e-mail.
“I’m happy at least to hear he’s OK, to at least get one line or two lines,” she said.
Her birthday present this year from her son was a letter that came after two long weeks of hearing nothing. Even when she does get the chance to speak with him, Maria Barrera said she doesn’t know exactly where he is or what it is he’s doing. She doesn’t like to ask too many questions.
“I pray every night and all day for him and for every (soldier),” she said. “It’s too hard to think another mother’s feeling the same thing.”
Enrique Barrera began preparing for the Army while a junior at GHS. He was stationed in both South and North Carolina from the time he graduated in 2002 until late last year. When he came home on leave last Christmas, his mother said, he was “too serious.” He told her he would be going to Iraq and left the country on Jan. 31.
“I don’t know when he’s going to return. He said a year,” Maria Barrera said. “I miss him too much because he’s the baby and the only boy.”
Barrera, who has worked for Gilroy Unified School District for 10 years, also has three daughters: Mirella, 28, Anacristina, 25, and Maribel, 24.
“I feel proud of my son because he grew up with three girls and me, and he’s too tough,” Barrera said.
At times, she still struggles with his decision to join the Army.
“He told me, ‘Mom, you do everything right, so don’t worry. I like it and if somebody has to do it, I’m going to do the same.’ So I understand (the Army) is what he likes,” she said.
When Barrera told the teachers at Luigi – several of whom taught Enrique – that her son was headed to Iraq, they were immediately interested in ‘adopting’ him.
“My kids were really excited about it,” said teacher Karen Humber, who had Enrique as a student. “It kind of brings their awareness level up, just in terms of geography and world events. There has been such an overwhelming response from families.”
The school has a group dedicated to planning activities and events for the year that organized the donations and mailing of the care packages.
Almost every teacher at the school knows her son, Barrera said, because he was a member of the school’s first graduating class and often came to campus to visit her.
“I’ve been working here since Luigi Aprea opened, so he came to see mom all the time,” she said.
Enrique Barrera also spoke to Luigi students last year while on leave in Gilroy. Maria Barrera says the Luigi community extends beyond the school’s borders and in her son’s case, it has an international reach.
“I feel very, very good when somebody remembers my son,” Barrera said. “I know he’s going to appreciate everything they’re going to send. He still says, ‘Oh mom, just say thank you to everyone’. I feel like they’re my second family because everybody knows me and everybody knows my kids.”
The students also are planning to send packages to the son of Debbie Genzel – a paraprofessional at the school – who was recently sent to Afghanistan.
Until the care packages make their way overseas, his mother is encouraged by the news that her Easter gift of tortillas hit the spot. She knew he was missing her homemade tortillas that used to accompany most family meals, but unfortunately, she couldn’t send the enchiladas or chile rellenos that he is going “crazy” for.
“He received them the day after Easter, so he ate a breakfast with tortillas,” she said.
