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ILLUSTRATION: JOHN FRASER

The postcards-for-troops campaign launched by Legion Magazine is catching on across the country. Students from a number of schools are turning it into a classroom project, ordering huge quantities of the postcards published in Legion Magazine’s November/December issue. In several e-mails sent to the magazine this week, the magazine has learned that students, teachers and parents are busy putting pen to paper and writing short, personalized messages on the back of the postcards, all of which are destined for Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

“Students enjoy participating in campaigns such as this,” says teacher Shelley Knott of Mayerthorpe, Alta., Junior/Senior High School. “Sending postcards to the troops in Afghanistan allows them to make a big difference as a small group. It fits in with what we are trying to teach about the importance of fostering teamwork and local action with a global result.”

Knott says her community has close ties with the Lord Strathcona’s Horse because one of the school’s graduates is currently serving with that unit in Afghanistan.

Students, teachers and parents are contacting the magazine in surprising number to order more of the distinctive three postcards. As a result, thousands more have been printed and are available free of charge to Canadians of all ages who want to let the troops in Afghanistan know of their support back home.

“These postcards are a terrific idea!” says Joanne Lambert, a music and English teacher at Frank Ryan Intermediate School in Nepean, Ont. “They will connect students with the realities faced by our service personnel stationed abroad. It will make them more aware of the fact that there are many men and women over there putting their lives on the line to try and make Afghanistan a safer place. All of them are making a huge sacrifice by being away from their loved ones and from the comforts of home. They have left behind the things we all treasure, and so it is hoped our students will learn from the experience of writing to them.”

For more information on the Postcard Campaign For Troops In Afghanistan, or to request your Free Postcards, please contact: Legion Magazine  1-613-591-0116 or by e-mail: magazine@legion.ca

Postcards To The Troops Illustrations by: John Fraser