When volunteers at the American Red Cross Hollister office first put up a box to collect holiday cards for military members and veterans, the cards were a little slow in coming in.
Volunteer Ali Evans, who works as a substitute teacher for the Hollister School District, decided to talk with local schools to see if they could get students to contribute to the “Holiday Mail for Heroes” program. The initiative is a nationwide effort by the American Red Cross, and local volunteers got wind of it from the Monterey Bay Area Chapter, of which Hollister is included. The efforts launched in November, with drop off locations in Monterey County and at the local Hollister office, on Fifth Street. Residents could also mail the cards directly to a Red Cross office in Maryland.
“I went to every school in Hollister and gave them a flier and asked for their participation,” Evans said. “We ended up getting a wonderful response.”
Four elementary schools, both middle schools and San Benito High School contributed cards to the efforts. The total number of cards collected came to 1,425.
Evans said the high school’s Red Cross club got involved just a few days before the deadline to send the cards to the local chapter headquarters in Monterey. They collected 417 cards. Marguerite Maze Middle School’s Builder’s Club members collected cards as well.
“Many of the cards were hand made,” Evans said, adding that some people chose blank holiday cards. “It was about half and half.”
Evans said that some of cards are intended to go to service members or veterans in hospitals. They were asked not to use glitter and for the cards to be made out with a general greeting, such as “Dear Service Member.” They were also asked to minimize personal information, such as home addresses and e-mail addresses.
She said the schools “totally left it up to the teachers.”
“Some made it a writing project,” she said. “Some after-school programs got involved.”
She said some of the classes had students who made two or three cards each.
“We did get a few cards from some members of the community,” Evans said. “We had a box in the office for people to drop them in. We got maybe 50 from other members of the community, but the bulk of the cards definitely came from the kids.”
Evans said the local cards were sent to the Monterey office, where they would be forwarded on to the East Coast for distribution.
The Holiday Mail for Heroes is a nationwide program. The 2011 effort was sponsored by Pitney Bowes, Simon Malls and Hallmark. The cards will be delivered to service members, veterans and their families in the United States and overseas.
Over the last four years, more than 3.5 million cards have been collected, screened, sorted and distributed through the program.
The American Red Cross, Monterey Bay Area Chapter is looking for volunteers to staff the Hollister chapter office. The chapter office is located at 357 Fifth St., and the hours are Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Shifts are four hours, once a week, but any hours will be considered.
For more information or to find out about volunteering, call the Red Cross office at 636-2100 or contact volunteer Howard at 297-3696.
