B.C. woman needs help writing 10k Christmas cards for homeless

DELTA (NEWS 1130) – A woman in Delta wants to bring Christmas cheer to those most in need this holiday season, and she needs all the help she can get to send thousands of cards to shelters across North America.

Three years ago, Erin Schulte started the Christmas Card Collective, enlisting the help of family and friends to write 300 letters for people living in Lookout shelters across Metro Vancouver. For three nights leading up to Christmas, shelter-users would find a card on their pillows.

“At Christmastime I would see people handing out socks and food, but I thought it was very impersonal,” Schulte says. “The idea was placed on my heart to go to family and friends and collect blank Christmas cards and fill them with positive, heart-felt wishes, just reminding them that they had not been forgotten about this time of the year.”

Since then, the project has blossomed to more shelters in B.C., Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Seattle and the Los Angeles Mission, the largest shelter in L.A. Students at Surrey and North Delta Schools districts, sports teams, church groups, and companies have all jumped on board to help.

This year, Schulte still needs help creating 10,000 Christmas cards.

“A card, depending on what’s in it, it really does have the ability to send someone’s life in a whole different direction,” she says. “You never know whose heart you’re going to be reaching. One of those nights leading up to Christmas, it might give them hope to carry on. It might give them strength to pull themselves out of addiction.”

The project has also had the unintended consequence of helping younger generations empathize with those less fortunate.

“There was an open line of communication in the classroom about compassion, poverty, homelessness and addiction,” Schulte says. “I really want this project to remind people of what they true meaning of Christmas is, because I think we’ve really lost touch, with how commercial Christmas has become.”

Schulte’s employer, Hercules Forwarding, is delivering the letters to the American locations while Van-Kam Freightways is taking care of the Canadian deliveries.

While Aline Greetings has donated many cards, Schulte encourages people to use any unused cards they have in their home or make their own.

Anyone who wants to volunteer their time and heartfelt wishes can contact Schulte on the Christmas Card Collective Facebook page.

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