In early December, Riverside Secondary students in Skill Development teamed up with New Media 10 students to create and mail Christmas cards to Canadian Armed Forces serving overseas, as a way to help celebrate and spread the holiday cheer.
Riverside’s Educational Assistant, Ms. Nielsen, makes cards at home and brought the idea to Ms. McMinn, who is a case manager in the Skill Development department. Ms. McMinn, along with other EA’s, prepared the supplies for Skill Development to create these cards.
Skill Development enjoys making cards for the different seasons, as they make them for birthdays, Valentines’ Day, and other special occasions.
This year was their second year making the cards, and they created around 75 cards total, selling each one for three dollars. The profits will go back to buying more materials for them to keep the program going.
Once the cards were finished, Mr. Barazzuol had asked for enough cards for his New Media 10 class to write letters to thank the Canadian Armed Forces and wish them a Merry Christmas.
Skill Development delivered the cards during block B, and the activity was introduced to Mr. Barazzuol’s class with a couple of videos, the reasoning why the cards were made and what each card should encompass in regards to the message.
Mr. Barazzuol saw a tweet that the Canadian Armed Forces had posted about the holiday season. “Dear Friends, many of us will spend the holiday with our families. Many of us will not. You can send them a greeting at this address,” read the tweet. Many of the soldiers serving overseas won’t receive Christmas gifts or even letters, so New Media 10 decided to send these cards to them so that everyone can feel the Christmas spirit.
