Methuen’s Jim Wareing has a powerful ally if MassHighway comes to take down any more of the thank-the-troops signs he posts on bridges and overpasses.

In his weekly radio address on Saturday, President Bush mentioned the Merrimack Valley patriot - who in addition to decorating bridges also has spearheaded a drive by students to send more than 16,000 packages to soldiers, sailors and Marines overseas.

“One man who’s making a difference this holiday season is Jim Wareing,” the leader of the free world told a national radio audience. “Jim is the founder of New England Caring for Our Military. This year, Jim helped organize a gift drive by thousands of students from Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Students from kindergarten to high school collected more than 20,000 gifts for our troops abroad.”

Wareing founded Caring for Our Military after a trip to Ground Zero in the days following 9/11. But as far as Wareing is concerned, he’s getting credit for the hard work of the more than 6,000 students who have collected the gifts and run donation campaigns in order to buy them. “This is really about the students,” Wareing said. “To have these students do what they did is beyond words.”

Wareing has arranged to make taped copies of the speech so the students can hear the president talk about their achievements. “My first reaction was pure shock,” he said of hearing the president mention his name and organization. “You sort of get lost for words when it happens.”

Wareing was recently in the news when MassHighway ordered workers to remove all signs from overpasses, including Wareing’s labors of love. After a public outcry, the agency called the order a miscommunication and allowed Wareing to restore the signs.

Meanwhile, Bush, who is spending Christmas at the Camp David presidential retreat, called 10 members of the U.S. military yesterday to thank them for their service abroad and wish them a happy holiday.

O'Ryan Johnson-Boston Herald
hit Counter