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Manhattanville My Soldier selected as
Grand Prize Winner in Dr. Pepper ® Contest!
- $23,000 to Be Donated to Manhattanville My Soldier
- Read more about My Soldier and watch the video here!
WHO:
Juan Salas from Manhattanville College Purchase, N.Y. has
been named a grand-prize winner in the Dr Pepper “Pepper
Your Community” contest. Thanks to people throughout
the country who voted for My Soldier and Juan, $23,000 will
be donated in his name to Manhattanville My Soldier, a pen
pal program for soldiers and civilians that Juan and his
college president, Richard Berman founded.
WHAT:
Earlier this summer, Dr Pepper and Earvin “Magic”
Johnson teamed up for Dr Pepper’s “Pepper Your
Community” contest and set out to conduct a nationwide
search to recognize those who freely donate their time to
make their communities a better place. After hometown
heroes were nominated and 23 finalists were chosen by an
independent panel of judges, almost 10,000 people voted and
selected two grand-prize winners.
WHY: Juan Salas, a college student and Army Sergeant,
created the Manhattanville My Soldier pen pal program for
soldiers and civilians. While serving a 14 month tour
of duty in Iraq, Juan gathered strength and motivation from
letters of encouragement sent to him by family, friends,
teachers and even strangers. He described each letter
he received as “a precious piece of gold.” When he
returned to the United States, he brought with him the idea
to start a program allowing people to adopt a soldier as a
pen pal. With the support of the Manhattanville
College college president, Richard Berman along with staff
and students, the idea grew into a nationally recognized
program. Since Manhattanville My Soldier was launched
on Veteran's Day, 2004, more than 350,000 civilians have
signed up to adopt 175,000 soldiers. More information on
Manhattanville My Soldier can be found at www.mysoldier.com.
For further information, please contact Mike Seminara, My Soldier Program Coordinator at 914-323-5466
A Note from Mike from the My Soldier Office
On behalf of Manhattanville College, we want to take the opportunity to thank you all for the tremendous outpouring of support you have shown to the servicemen/women participating in the My Soldier program.
If you have found that your assigned soldier was unable to write back and you wish to adopt another service member please email us at mscontact@mville.edu and include the phrase “Repeat Patron” in the subject line. We will reply promptly with a new soldier for you to contact.
Because of their duties and harsh conditions, a soldier might not be able to reply. It has been our experience that soldiers are often unable to write back due to redeployment back home, transfer to another region. Also the very nature of their jobs puts them in harms way. Although every soldier will not write back, be assured that 100% of them appreciate the time, energy and personal support they receive from folks back home.
Thank you,
Mike
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