Daily Press Article

Here is the Article that was published today in the Daily Press. I am also posting it below. There are a couple Typos. The Platoon number is 4013, Jenny Marino is from Columbia not Ecuador and Jenny Wegners last name is misspelled but all in all it's an awsome article.


Hands that rock the cradles lift Marine spirits

Peninsula au pairs write thank-you notes to recruits, with whom they have much in common.
BY JULIE HAGY SPECIAL TO THE DAILY PRESS April 27 2006

A group huddles at a table in the cafe at Barnes and Noble, sipping lattes and dipping forks into huge slices of cheesecake. Suddenly, two young women break off into a conversation in Russian."The rule is English only," they are told by Katy Schwarzenberg, local childcare coordinator for Cultural Care Au Pair.
The last Wednesday of each month, Schwarzenberg and au pairs from Hampton, Newport News, Mathews, Yorktown, Williamsburg and Hayes meet at the Barnes and Noble in Newport News. They talk about their weeks, drink coffee, practice their English and write to female Marine recruits serving in the Papa Company, Platoon 4014, at Parris Island, S.C."We do it just to put a smile on their face and say thanks for doing this," said Schwarzenberg, opening packets of note cards. They bear depictions of Snoopy, dragonflies, bunnies and American flags.
"It's no picnic, going through basic training."The letters the au pairs write are intended to motivate and tell the young women in the Marine Corps that we are proud they choose to serve and protect this country."Schwarzenberg started the program last month. She takes the cards made at each meeting and sends them to Papa Company.
Schwarzenberg, 28, is originally from Germany and knows what it feels like to be in these young adults' shoes. She was an au pair - the term is a French one that roughly translates to "equal"- for a family in Illinois from 1996-1997."I remember being an au pair and running to the mailbox," said Schwarzenberg. For her, receiving a simple letter from friends or family at home brightened her entire day. For the female recruits and the au pairs, a letter can go a long way in making them feel loved.She hopes that pen-pal friendships will result from the au pairs' efforts, but she doesn't expect it. "A lot of the girls in boot camp don't have time to write back," she said. "They are very busy; we don't expect it."
Schwarzenberg has a special place in her heart for Platoon 4014. Her former charge, Maureen, now 17, is a part of that unit. Schwarzenberg took care of Maureen when she was 8, and still remains close to the family. The cards made by the au pairs go to Maureen, who hands them out to platoon mates who don't receive a lot of mail.The program is successful, Schwarzenberg said, because au pairs are going through much of the same thing recruits are facing. For instance, their ages are about the same. Au pairs in the group that meets at Barnes and Noble range from 18 to 24, and the recruits are 17 to 26.
Jenny Wenger, 20, from Germany, is serving as an au pair for a family in Yorktown. "I know how it is being away from home," she said. Like many of the recruits, this is her first time away from her family.Wenger, like many of the au pairs, works in the home of an active-duty military family. Writing postcards to military recruits is yet another way to immerse herself in the culture of her American family.
Receiving mail is very important to recruits, said Staff Sgt. Rachel Eltz, who has been working with recruits in Parris Island for the past three years."It's vital, especially if they don't get mail from family. It's motivational, their only connection with the outside world."Eltz is enthusiastic about the au pairs' efforts."Receiving mail from family is important, but to receive it from people they don't know helps them with a sense of duty and patriotism, knowing that there are other people in the country who support them and what they are doing," she said. "It gives them a sense of nationalism."
Cultural Care Au Pair started in 1989. Since then, the Cambridge, Mass.-based organization has placed more than 35,000 au pairs from more than 30 countries in homes nationwide."I want to learn English, and the only way to do it is to live with people who speak everyday English," said Lorena Sanchez, 24, a native of Ecuador and an au pair for a 2-year-old child in Mathews.Sanchez has been with her family for almost 11/2 years. The Cultural Care Au Pair program is deigned to allow young adults to stay for a year within the United States. However, upon the completion of a year, au pairs can re-apply for an extension of up to one year.Sanchez finishes a card and hands it down toward the end of the table, where a stack is quickly accumulating. Schwarzenberg estimates the group makes about 25 cards per session.Beside Sanchez sits Jenny Marino, 22, from Ecuador. She carefully glues spongy yellow dots into the center of one of the cards, creating a large smiley face. The dots, made of foam, are an art supply that the former art and English teacher brought with her to Poquoson, where she is an au pair for a 12-year-old."It's healthy to smile," says Marino, flashing one of her own."I try to make a post card," Henry Cadena, 25, a native of Ecuador says, holding up a card and chuckling. "It's the first time," he said. Cadena is waiting to be placed with a Peninsula family.
The future for au pairs who go through the program varies, said Schwarzenberg."Some come back as students, some fall in love and get married," she said. "The majority go back and have very fond memories."Schwarzenberg hopes writing to female military recruits will be one of those memories.


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