Something a little different ... and happen to be ideas I love 
Support Our Troops, a new healthy virus spreading throughout Canada ......... there is no cure for it ... spread it at will
Quote:
By TAMARA KING, STAFF REPORTER
Robin Blecker and Angeie Zuber are making greeting cards for Canadian soldiers to send home from overseas. (C. Procaylo, Sun)
WAWANESA -- Hallmark just doesn't have a card to say, "Sorry for missing the birth of our daughter."
To help fill that gap a pair of military wives are launching an important Afghanistan mission: a greeting card-making crusade.
The homemade cards will be sent to soldiers overseas, giving troops a tangible way to send their love back to family and friends in Canada.
In places like Kandahar, Afghanistan, greeting cards are in short supply, says Angeie Zuber, whose husband is posted at CFB Shilo near Brandon. So short that when a military spouse receives a card from overseas, chances are she won't be the only one.
"There's a joke that I've heard around the base that all military wives across the country have the same anniversary cards on their mantles," Zuber says.
But Zuber and her partner in card-making, Robin Blecker, don't want to focus only on military spouses.
"There is a need for this. It isn't just a mushy-gushy, wifey thing," says Blecker.
They hope to collect cards for all sorts of occasions, and especially for children. When they marry into the military, spouses are aware of the sacrifices they'll have to make, says Blecker.
"We knew the life we chose. Children are born into it," she said.
But that doesn't make it easy, Blecker quickly adds, noting it's almost like being a single parent. She says she sometimes wonders if it can be harder than being a soldier fighting overseas. The mother of three spent two years living apart from her husband.
Like Zuber, Blecker's husband is posted at Shilo with the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery.
"Sometimes it's harder on us at home. It's very hard to be left alone," Blecker said.
For several hours a week, Zuber and Blecker huddle over a kitchen table, carefully measuring, cutting, lettering, and gluing whatever they can dream up to make a card designed especially for soldiers to send to their families.
Some of them are for kids, like the one that talks about missing a child's first goal in hockey. The pair designed a little pink baby dress card for soldiers who miss their daughter's birth. Another card, clearly aimed at spouses, says "Thank you for keeping the home fires burning."
Card-aganza
"If you say that to military wives, they'll know what you mean."
It's also a way to show soldiers that Canadians care about them, says Zuber.
"These are specially made, with love. And not for profit."
The pair plans to ship the first batch of cards to Kandahar in the new year, likely after an event they're affectionately calling "card-a-ganza," a half-day card-making marathon in Wawanesa, which is close to Shilo, the home base of many of Manitoba's military families.
The date for card-crafting in Wawanesa, which is about 175 kilometres west of Winnipeg, will be announced on their website at www.acardforhome.com or by calling their hotline at 1-866-830-3217. Snail mail is A Card For Home, Box 40, CFB Shilo, R0K 2A0.
Through their newly created website they want to enlist the non-military crowd in the card-making mission. They're hoping groups, such as seniors' homes and crafting clubs, as well as individuals will send generic, unsigned cards that can be shipped overseas.
Even the less-than-crafty types can get involved, says Zuber, noting donation information is available on the website. Money will be put toward craft materials and pens. With each card, they plan to send a pen, something that's also in short supply overseas.
Zuber and Blecker hope to have enough cards to fill several boxes.
"As an entire country, we've got to get with the program. We've got to support all our people in uniform -- soldiers, firefighters, police officers," says Zuber.
|
|