Christmas cards and letters being sent to Canadian troops around the world (Photo Credit: Kate Potter / Facebook)

By Shane Clausing

Community

Sexsmith residents mail over 500 Christmas cards to Canadian Armed Forces members

Dec 7, 2020 | 1:01 PM

The Town of Sexsmith is continuing what it hopes will become a new holiday tradition.

Last week, residents of Sexsmith and the surrounding area mailed off 518 Christmas cards to Canadian Armed Forces members serving around the world.

According to the Mayor of the Town of Sexsmith, Kate Potter, this new tradition started with an idea from a local pastor at a Remembrance Day ceremony in 2019.

“He (the pastor) had referenced how much letters from home made a difference in the previous wars or even just deployment, and the difference that it made in the morale and encouragement for troops. I thought that was a fantastic idea and I sort of put out a challenge in the community and got a great response last year with over 300 letters.”

Potter says that initially she didn’t know if they were going to send the letters to the troops again this year. However, after community members reached out, she decided that they should pursuit the project again.

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“It was a great opportunity to see if we could jump back in again and see if we could increase our numbers. I was blown away to see the support from the residents and the area.”

Across the Sexsmith area, students and residents alike combined to make and send cards to the troops. Potter says she estimates that schools in the area created between 200-250 cards. The rest came from the community.

“We’ve always had amazing support from our schools, so it was neat to see them take this on again,” said Potter.

Photo Credit: Mayor Kate Potter

Photo Credit: Mayor Kate Potter

With the town sending over 500 Christmas cards to the troops in 2020, Potter mentioned that she would like to continue to grow this project for many years to come.

As for where the cards to the troops end up, Potter tells EverythingGP that the town mails them to the Canadian Armed Forces base in Belleville, Ontario. From there, the Canadian Armed Forces distributes the letters to various bases located across the globe.

Sending letters to the Armed Forces also comes with zero cost to the town. Most letters sent to the Canadian Armed Forces bases are delivered for free by Canada Post

Letters can also be delivered to the troops at any time and Potter encouraged anyone interested in sending a letter to the troops for the holidays to do so.