Last month more than a dozen community members dropped in to the Millbrook branch of Library to join Helen Bajorek and her husband Jean-Michel Komarnicki in a postcard- writing session for defenders in Ukraine. Helen and Jean-Michel are behind the Canadian branch of an organization known as Postcards to the Front (Ukraine).They organize the preparation and delivery of postcards with messages of support and encouragement to members of the military, medical staff and volunteers on the front line of the war in Ukraine. The cards prepared at the library are part of the organization’s Christ-mas in Summer campaign as it takes as long as three months for the cards to arrive at their destination.
The cards featured winter scenes with brief seasonal messages in the native language of Ukraine. Some of the cards were designed by Stacey Knight of Blank Canvas Hair & Art Studio who joined the fun. Stacey plans to encourage customers to write a card or two as they spend time at her salon waiting for their hair to dry or their colour to set.
Seasonal cards featuring messages in the Ukrainian language are available for a$2 donation at local retailers including Mitchel’s Cake and Dessert Co., Home Hardware, Nexicom and Blank Canvas.
Participants at the local event prepared 26 postcards, which will be added to the 300 cards already collected for this project. Thanks to Helen and Jean-Michel who spearhead the Canadian branch of Postcards to the Front (Ukraine), more than 10,000 postcard messages of support to Ukraine’s Defenders have been shipped out of the Millbrook post office to Ukraine: that represents a lot of support for the war-weary on the front lines.