The Red Cross kicked off their nationwide Holiday Mail for Heroes campaign at the Veteran’s Museum in Balboa Park Sunday.
This year they are hoping to make 15,000 cards, which would be 5,000 more than 2014.
Youth clubs from high schools and colleges around the county gathered to create holiday cards for service members, veterans and their families.
“We do this to just bring a smile to those who are helping our country and serving in the military,” Bella Agpaoa with the Ford Youth Council told NBC7.
The Red Cross collects the cards through the first week of December, and their Service to the Armed Forces program will hand out the cards to locals leading up to the holidays
“Our local Service to the Armed Forces department works very closely with our local military…Whether our team is taking those out to…pre-deployment briefings and handing out cards there, they might be going into the VA and handing out cards there…we also might be taking those to our military hospitals,” Courtney Pendleton of the Red Cross explained.
According to Pendleton many different organizations host their own card making events to be given to the Red Cross for distribution including Sharp Healthcare, local libraries, and Boy and Girl Scout troupes among others.
Local
“If people want to bring cards – you can make cards, you can sign cards – all we ask is you bring them into the Red Cross locally,” Pendleton added. Their address is 3950 Calle Fortunada, San Diego 92123.
To find out more about the program people can visit their website.
