To the editor:

My deepest thanks to everyone who donates blood. During a recent hospitalization, my father received more than his total blood supply. Though the attempts to save his life weren’t successful, my family and I are grateful to people we will never know for giving us hope.

My father was a conservationist who taught us that small, consistent acts of sacrifice add up to a better world for everyone. Every morning, before most people are awake, two longtime Lawrence residents practice this by picking up trash on their morning walk. They come equipped with bags and grabbers, cleaning up for (and after) others without asking for recognition.

I am also grateful to the journalists and news organizations who have the guts to report non-titillating news that we need to know. One story they have told is about depleted uranium on weapons we are using in Iraq.

This radioactive product is released into the air when ammunition strikes its target. It is probably one cause of the first Gulf War syndrome. We will have to deal with its effects again in the veterans of the current Iraq war and perhaps their children — not to mention the effects on Iraq’s citizens and soil.

If you are supporting the troops with a car magnet, consider doing something practical to benefit them — whether that means learning about policies that affect them or sending a soldier a care box of cookies.

Valerie Renault,

Lawrence