This Valentine’s Day, with help from volunteers throughout the Scarborough community, Maine soldiers abroad will be able to feel a little more at home. For the third year in a row, Operation Cupid is providing bags filled with Valentine’s treats to members of the Maine National Guard.

Included in the packages, along with candy, cut-out hearts, and DVDs, are international calling cards, enabling the soldiers to talk to loved ones at home on Valentine’s Day.

The program was started by a group of sixth-grade students from Scarborough Middle School. Middle school health teacher, Tom Griffin, has all of his sixth- grade classes participate in community service. Most years, the students opt to visit nursing homes or volunteer at soup kitchens, but this particular class wanted to reach out to soldiers.

Community volunteer Mary Nablo is the mother of a student who was in the sixth-grade class that initiated the program.

“It was such a great experience for the kids to be involved in,” she remembers. Her son, now an eighth-grader, still helps out with the program.

Nablo’s daughter, who is in the sixth grade this year, is participating in a new community service project with Griffin, Operation Awareness, which, through hearts and yellow ribbons, spreads the message of Operation Cupid.

In the first year of the program, Operation Cupid raised more money than needed to complete the project. The surplus funded a free weekend at Samoset Resort in Rockport, for the handful of Scarborough soldiers who inspired the students to start the program. Governor Baldacci recognized the students’ success at a gathering held at Scarborough Downs.

Last year, Griffin, who is the program’s chief organizer, decided to expand Operation Cupid and involve more members of the community. Now, volunteers from the middle school’s Builder’s Club, the high school’s Key Club, and the town’s Kiwanis Club all help assemble the Valentine’s packages.

Griffin was excited to see Scarborough residents of all ages working together last year. He recalls seniors and second-graders, side-by-side, decorating the bags and enjoying each other’s company – an experience he describes as “very unique.”

Again, Operation Cupid raised enough money to participate in another project – the Kennebec County Extension’s Operation Military Kids, which provides “Hero Packs” to children of Maine soldiers who are serving abroad. The packs include writing utensils, notepads and cameras that are intended to help the children stay in touch with their parents. If enough money is raised this year, Operation Cupid will continue to collaborate with Operation Military Kids.

Operation Cupid’s primary goal is to provide bags to all Maine soldiers in the 240th Engineer Group; 399 Combat Support Hospital; Alpha Company, SECFOR II; and the 172nd Mountain Infantry Co. In past years, around 200 soldiers received the packages. This year, Operation Cupid will send more than 400 goody bags to Maine soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kuwait.

Operation Cupid works with family coordinators from the Maine National Guard who see that the packages reach individual soldiers. The names of the soldiers and their families remain confidential. However, some soldiers have expressed their gratitude toward Operation Cupid by sending thank-you notes.

Carol Duehring, the Family Unit Coordinator for the 240th Group, expects her husband, David, a lieutentant colonel stationed in Afghanistan, to receive a bag this year. Though he is able to call home frequently, she knows that most soldiers cannot. Duehring stresses the importance of getting calling cards to the soldiers.

“It’s the primary thing that soldiers need,” she says.

Though the program has raised a lot of money, it has not been from a few large donations, but from many smaller ones. In the past two years, Griffin was impressed with the level of community involvement.

“People just have the generosity to send in the checks,” he says.

Everyone who makes a donation of $10 or more will be listed in the The Current as a contributor to the program. This year, Wal-Mart has offered to donate snacks and candy. For the third year, Scarborough Downs will cover the cost of shipping the packages.

So far, the feedback has been extremely positive.

“They really appreciate it,” Griffin says.

This year, the following Scarborough businesses and organizations will provide heart-shaped cards on which the public can write messages that will be sent with the Valentine’s packages:

-Ace Hardware (Oak Hill and Dunstan stores)

-Wal-mart, Payne Road

-Scarborough Post Office, Gorham Road

-Scarborough Public Library, Gorham Road

-Freaky Bean Coffee Co., Route 1

-Scarborough Town Hall, Route 1

For more information about Operation Cupid, contact Tom Griffin at tgriffi@scarborough.k12.us.me or 730-4800; Jim Damicis, Scarborough Kiwanis Club, at jdamicis@maine.rr.com or 831-1061; or Mary Nablo, community volunteer, at mnablo@maine.rr.com