They might be far away, but a Guelph woman is determined to make sure Canadian soldiers serving overseas don't feel forgotten.
Last week, Sydney Weaver, a 21-year-old Carleton University mailed 303 cards to the Canadian Armed Forces. The project took her eight months to complete.
In each letter, she wished the soldiers a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays (for the ones that don’t celebrate Christmas) and all the best for the new year.
“It was just a great way to show my respect for those that are deployed at Christmas and in the military as a whole,” said Weaver. “It just makes me proud to be Canadian.”
The Canadian government encourages its citizens to write cards to the Canadian Armed Forces through its Write to the Troops program. Weaver first started mailing cards to Canadian soldiers when she was nine years old.
“I am really happy that the Canadian Armed Forces has this program because it is something I look forward to,” said Weaver.
“It’s really kind of interesting and special for me not knowing where they're going because once they land in Belleville, it's up to the Canadian Armed Forces,” said Weaver adding that in the past she received responses from Latvia and Afghanistan among other places in the world.
After posting about the initiative on Facebook, Weaver heard from many community members praising her work.
“When I was deployed to Afghanistan I received 'To Any Canadian Soldier' letters. Some were sweet, some beautiful sentiments and some were so funny I cried tears of laughter!” posted Allison Leamon.
"I still have every letter I received while deployed. I absolutely treasure these letters! Thank you, Sydney for being a person who thinks to write them.”
Weaver said she is always pleasantly surprised when a soldier responds to her letter.
“I don't do it for the recognition, I don't do it to get a response but it really warms my heart to get a response because it’s confirmation that they had been received,” said Weaver.
Last year she mailed 205 cards.
“Last year I heard back from three people that were deployed together which is really cool,” said Weaver.
“They were just thanking me for my support and contribution and it was really just nice to hear that and they said how it's appreciated during the holiday season. It was so nice to hear that they were doing well because they told me how they were doing.”
Weaver said she keeps in mind that the Canadian Armed Forces has a diverse population.
“Not everybody will be celebrating Christmas or be celebrating the same holidays during the holiday season. But I try and keep it as inclusive as possible to recognize the diverse military that Canada does have,” said Weaver.
Weaver said community members in Guelph greatly contributed to her project by helping her find Christmas cards early this year. They even gave her discounts to purchase cards once they learned where the cards were going.
Weaver said the entire activity brings her family together with her mother helping find cards on Facebook and her dad helping seal each individual card.
“Being in communications, a note to me is still a piece of communication,” said Weaver, a fourth year communications student.
“It is exciting and sending out the Christmas cards truly does make me look forward to Christmas because I get to get into the Christmas spirit a little earlier than everybody else.”
