It was a small gesture by a Cobourg family that meant so much to a soldier from Cobourg serving overseas.
When a call went out over Twitter from the Canadian Armed Forces for people to write Christmas cards to people serving in overseas in the military, Canadians responded by the thousands.
In fact, over 15,000 cards were processed at CFB Trenton in one week.
One of the cards processed was from the MacInnes family from Cobourg.
Speaking to Today’s Northumberland, Tom MacInnes said he has always tried to give back to the community. Having children, it goes hand in hand to teach them the same.
“When we found out about sending cards to military members overseas we thought that was a good way to give back.”
MacInnes and his oldest daughter, Leah (age 13) each wrote cards to the soldiers and sent them approximately three weeks ago – never thinking much more about it.
But last week while MacInnes was in Nova Scotia, his wife had a knock on the door.
It was Gill Berridge from Cobourg.
Her son who has served in the military for over 11 years is based at CFB Edmonton, but is currently deployed with Operation Reassurance in Latvia.
Berridge wanted to know if there was a “T. MacInnes” who lives in the house.
Shortly after, the two women chatted about Berridge’s son receiving the Christmas card in Latvia.
Berridge met up with Tom MacInness for the first time on Thursday, December 19, 2019.
“It’s like a lottery,” said MacInnes after meeting Berridge.
“The ability to make connections between people is really important. The fact that someone from Cobourg serving in Latvia got my card is amazing.
In an e-mail to his mother, Berridge’s son stated when he was recently at the military post office he was looking for any parcels addressed to him.
“I had stumbled across one of many letters titled “to any Canadian Armed Forces member.”
“This particular letter stood out to me because it’s return address was from my hometown – Cobourg!”
He told the postal worker about his find, but being from Vancouver and not having a clue where Cobourg was located in Canada, the postal worker didn’t share his enthusiasm.
“That didn’t dull my excitement that I received a Christmas card from my hometown. Life is strange. At times we are often remind that the world isn’t always as big as we think it is.”
Berridge’s son said he is so grateful to the MacInnes family and all Canadians who took time out of their day to send Christmas cards.
“We really do appreciate it and it brightens our days.”
Berridge said she very much appreciated the MacInnes family sending the Christmas card.
“My son asked to also pass this message along: Wishing all Canadians a safe, peaceful and Merry Christmas from Enhanced forward presence Battle Group – Latvia.”
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
