Thanks to an enthusiastic mother-in-law in Erskine, a flight crew of 32, deployed in Afghanistan as part of Canada’s military mission there, will have a lot of Canadian goodies at their disposal within the next few weeks.
Marie Brown, the mother-in-law who practically launched the campaign, said that while she did regularly send items of necessity or convenience to her son-in-law there, she thought other members of the crew should not feel forgotten when they see parcels being opened up.
So when Brown called the Erskine school to ask whether students would be willing to send letters or items that could come in handy under the difficult conditions in Afghanistan, the school embraced the appeal with open arms, “adopted” the flight crew of 32 troops and started to collect whatever the students and their families would like to chip in: Anything and everything that the soldiers there can use for their convenience is acceptable: Wet wipes, canned food, peanuts, gum, computer games, books and other information and entertainment material, snacks, soups, etc.
To support the campaign, many students, staff and parents donned their red clothes last Friday, Jan. 8 as part of an awareness campaign to have as many families as possible on board for the campaign.
Brown said they would have to collect the items quickly to make use of the seasonal window of opportunity that allows free shipment of parcels to Canadian forces in Afghanistan.
She added that she was hoping that once all the items were collected by Wednesday evening, she would be able to ship the parcel on Thursday, Jan. 14, the last day before the free shipment window expires on Friday.