THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 6, 1995 TAG: 9505060284
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Two Virginia Beach students flew to Oklahoma City this week to offer a little comfort, kid-style.
The Green Run Elementary fourth-graders were among 24 students from seven U.S. cities and Puerto Rico chosen by the Postal Service to deliver sympathy letters to children in the Oklahoma capital, where a terrorist's bomb last month destroyed a federal building and killed 167 people, including two whose bodies have not been recovered.
Students already had been participating in a national Postal Service pilot program called ``Let's Write,'' which encourages children to write letters to each other.
When the Oklahoma City disaster struck, Postal Service officials decided to direct students' attention there.
Annette I. Mohan, a Green Run Elementary fourth-grade teacher whose class is participating in ``Let's Write,'' worked with school administrators to screen students' letters and choose who would go to Oklahoma.
Ryan Bartz, 10, and Alison Kulp, 9, flew out Wednesday and will return to Norfolk today. They were accompanied by Mohan and by Margaret ``Boo'' Thiele, a school system administrator who organized the local ``Let's Write'' program.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, they spent most of their time attending receptions, touring schools and delivering letters from their peers to Oklahoma children. Today they are scheduled to attend a state-sponsored memorial service for children killed in the blast.
Mohan and Thiele were expected to go with other chaperons to see the bomb site Thursday night, but the children were not allowed to go. The adults believed it would be too traumatic.
Mohan said she tried to prepare her students for the pain of talking to victims and mourning other youngsters.
``I said, `You're going to meet people and see things that are going to hurt you. . . . I just want you to know that this is something that was wrong. There's always a good and a bad that comes out of something like this, and the good can be that you have strength together and that you decide that nothing like that can happen again.' ''
Mohan said she encouraged Alison and Ryan to hug the children they met, and even to cry if they needed.
``Both of them are wonderful children,'' she said. ``They've done a very, very good job. They've gone to the children and put their arms around them. This is an experience that I think they'll never forget - none of us will ever forget.''
Alison said she was angry about the attack.
``I don't understand why a person would do what they did, and how come they wanted to hurt these pepole, because the people didn't do anything to them,'' she said.
Thiele said she was struck by the fact that the bomb affected everyone in Oklahoma City in some way.
``It's as if something like this happened in Norfolk or Virginia Beach,'' Thiele said. ``Few of us would not know someone who was hurt or feel some emotions about what happened.''
Ryan and Alison said the students have been grateful for the visits.
``I think they're all really happy that they know that people care about them,'' Alison said.
``I think they're happy that we're here and everything,'' Ryan said. ``We came, we gave out letters, we expressed our sympathy, and we showed that we cared.'' MEMO: Related wire stories on pages A1 and A5-A8. List of local rescue workers
also on page A4. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Ryan Bartz
Alison Kulp
Annette Mohan
KEYWORDS: TERRORISM BOMB EXPLOSION GRIEF by CNB