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Head Start teacher Lisa Hazen reads a letter from Navy sailor Colby Karaim to her class and Colby’s little brother, Kaydon Eierdam, left, during class Thursday. Other sailors aboard the USS Howard wrote letters to Hazen’s students. Craig Moore/Daily Inter Lake
Letters from home
Head Start students help classmate stay in touch with his big brother,
a sailor in the U.S. Navy
By Kristi Albertson
The Daily Inter Lake
For soldiers aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer and a preschool class in Kalispell, the lost art of letter writing is back.
One group's letters share stories and photos of exotic places around the world. The other sends works of art done in crayon or marker. Sailors and students alike eagerly anticipate the next time the mail will bring word from the other.
The relationship began because of a pair of brothers with a 20-year age difference. Kaydon Eierdam, a 4-year-old student in Lisa Hazen's Head Start class, missed his brother, Colby Karaim, who was on his first tour with the Navy.
"He was having trouble understanding what was going on," said Tammy Eierdam, the boys' mother.
Hazen wanted to help, Eierdam said, so the teacher suggested her class "adopt" Karaim and make him part of their classroom. She posted Karaim's photo and pictures of the ship on the dry erase board in the front of the room and at preschooler-eye level near the door.
Every day, she and her students talked about Karaim. The children knew his occupation ("He works in the Navy!") and that he lived on a ship, the USS Howard, which was at an undisclosed location west of the United States.
Shortly before Christmas, the class sent Karaim a book they'd made. The children had their photographs taken on the playground, and each drew pictures to accompany their snapshots. They thanked Karaim for protecting them and told him what they did in school and what they wanted to be when they grew up.
Karaim was thrilled when he received the letters, Eierdam said. He wanted to respond to each letter individually but didn't have time to answer every one himself. So he sent an e-mail to the other sailors aboard the ship, asking for help.
Many of those sailors never get mail, Eierdam said, so they gladly agreed to write children they'd never met.
"Within, like, five minutes of sending that e-mail, we had half the class taken care of," she said.
It can take several weeks each way for mail to reach its destination, since it has to be flown onto and off the ship. While they waited for the sailors' response, Hazen's students prepared another package in late January.
They drew pictures and made thank-you cards. Eierdam asked area businesses to donate items; in a few days, she collected gift bags filled with DVDs, notepads and Valentine's candy from Kmart, ShopKo, Target and Wal-Mart. Borders volunteered to pay for shipping, which Hazen estimated cost about $200.
Before the class mailed the package, Eierdam, Karaim's wife, Tandi, and his grandmother, Judi Filler, visited them. Tandi Karaim showed the children wooden figurines and a carved coconut her husband had sent, and the students, prompted by Hazen, thanked her for supporting Colby.
"Thank you for letting your husband be on the ship to protect us," they chanted in unison.
This week, Hazen's students received their first packet of letters from the sailors. Thursday morning, after the children drew pictures with spring themes for their military pen pals, Hazen gathered them in the front of the classroom and held up an envelope.
"Today is the day we've been waiting for," she told them.
She pulled a patch bearing the USS Howard's insignia from the envelope and reminded the children it came from Karaim's ship. Then she pulled out a stack of about 20 letters.
One from Karaim, addressed to the class, was on top. He thanked them for the package they'd sent him and included photos of the ship.
Hazen read three more letters before putting the pile aside for the day.
"Can we read them every day when we're here?" a little girl asked.
"We'll read some every day," Hazen said, nodding.
Sending packages to his brother with his classmates has helped Kaydon grasp and cope with Karaim's absence, Eierdam said. Kaydon e-mails his big brother - mostly jibberish, she laughed, because he's only 4 - but writing letters with his classmates has allowed him to share the experience with others.
"It's helped a lot," Eierdam said. "I think it has."
Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.