Christmas comes to every soldier:
Small-town Canada supports our troops
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Gabrielle Eckhardt (left) with Cobourg's army Cadets getting ready to load skids of goodies for Canadian soldiers in afghanistan onto a truck. |
Friday, December 22, 2006
Santa Claus, who can go anywhere, is making a special stop in afghanistan in time for Christmas.
But this afghanistan-bound Santa is slim enough to drop down any chimney, and comes with a ponytail and plenty of pluck.
Her real name is Gabrielle Eckhardt. a resident of small town Cobourg, Ontario, her son Jonathan Rohrich is in the Canadian armed Forces and is soon to be stationed in afghanistan.
a "Santa Mom" of the Canadian troops, Eckhardt spearheaded a Christmas campaign that gives a package to every single Canadian soldier in afghanistan--no matter how lonely their outpost.
and the lesson she learned, firsthand about the love of our troops by small town-Canada is one that warms the heart.
It was a lesson that drives home how out of touch Canada's political and media elite are about how small town-Canada feels about things.
The "Goodies for Soldiers" campaign could never have happened without the communities of Cobourg and Port Hope, two small towns less than an hour east of Toronto. The towns' combined population is just over 25,000. Yet, during the three-week campaign, the townspeople managed to put together enough packages to give every Canadian soldier in afghanistan a package to make them feel closer to home at Christmas. It was a campaign that involved young and old working against the clock to make sure that personal care packages for Canadian troops would arrive in time for Christmas.
Eckhardt organized the campaign after learning that certain comfort and personal care items were not readily available to the soldiers.
"The idea that chap sticks, deodorant, razors or candy bars were hard for our soldiers to get dismayed me," she said. "That's when I decided I wanted to do something to help."
She then started the ball rolling with the assistance of the Cobourg Fire Department and the Port Hope and Cobourg Police Services, who agreed to act as collection centers for the campaign. Local townspeople threw their full support behind the campaign with high school clubs organizing drives to get students to put together packages from a list obtained from soldiers who had been to afghanistan.
The list included items like lip balm, Tim Horton's coupons, energy drink crystals, moist wipes, peanut butter, Cheese Whiz, jam, peanuts, wine gums, trail mix, licorice, beef jerky, toothpaste, toothbrush, toothbrush covers, deodorant, disposable razors, mouthwash, hand sanitizer, bar soap, cotton swabs, feminine hygiene products, non-aerosol shaving cream, gum, cough drops, mints, cereal bars, chips in small bags, toilet paper, dental floss, coffee filters, DVDs, crossword puzzles, single-bed sheets and magazines like The Hockey News, Popular Mechanics, Sports Illustrated, etc.
Local business chipped in their support as a local grocery store donated 100 care packages, each containing all of the above items, while others donated skids of cookies, peanut butter and coffee.
Packing, organizing and preparation for shipping to afghanistan was done with the assistance of the local army Cadet Corps. The result was nine skids of care packages, each containing roughly 220 individual goody bags.
Small-town Canada loves our Canadian troops. There's no better Christmas message than that!
The next time Jack Layton, Stephane Dion or Gilles Duceppe want to use our soldiers as political footballs, they would be well advised to find out how their songs are playing in small-town Canada. Chances are they suddenly would be a tad more supportive.
Meanwhile, thanks to the small towns of Cobourg and Port Hope, Christmas 2006 will be more than just another day for courageous Canadian troops protecting our freedom in faraway afghanistan.
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