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Op SANTA CLAUS: A bit of home for the holidays
By Scott Costen
Customer satisfaction surveys are not known for their emotional impact. Perhaps this is because most customers are not serving in a volatile theatre of operations thousands of kilometers from home.
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Santa makes a surprise visit to thank staff at 25 CFSD. They are responsible for shipping OP SANTA CLAUS presents to deployed CF members.
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“I have been moved to tears by some of the letters we get back,” says Shirley Penny, the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency (CFPSA) Amenities Co-ordinator responsible for Operation SANTA CLAUS.
Designed to enhance morale during the holiday season, the program sends gift packages to deployed CF personnel. “Every member gets a survey in their gift box. We get tons of responses and 99 percent of them are extremely positive,” she says.
Op SANTA CLAUS began as a grassroots initiative of spouses working through local Military Family Resource Centres. The program, now completely co-ordinated by CFPSA, has always succeeded in bringing a feeling of home to military personnel serving overseas during the holidays.
“The motivation behind it is to let the troops know we are thinking about them at this special time of year,” said Ms. Penny. “These men and women are serving their country far away from their loved ones. We want them to know we appreciate the work they are doing.”
The success of Op SANTA CLAUS depends on a “Total Force” effort. PSP, one division of CFPSA, co-ordinates the program, while the other two divisions, CANEX and SISIP, donate greeting cards, backpacks and travel mugs. CF members, DND employees, businesses and other community members, combine together to get the care packages into the hands of appreciative soldiers, sailors and air personnel.
Members of 25 CF Supply Depot Montréal are responsible for packing the boxes, filled with everything from soap to nuts. This year, more than 3 700 will be shipped to missions by 3 Combat Supply Depot in Montréal.
CFPSA provides the “goodies” with a lot of help from businesses and organizations.
“We’ve been supporting this program for years,” says Jacqueline Bisson of VideoGroup Canada, an Ottawa-based company that provides candies for the boxes. “Our employees are more than happy to donate their evenings and weekends to help make this happen.”
The number of businesses and organizations supporting Op SANTA CLAUS has grown dramatically, said Ms. Penny.
Among the new recruits is The Salvation Army, which has provided deployed military personnel with comfort and compassion for more than a century. “A little bit of Canada goes a long way overseas,” says Major Max Bulmer, The Salvation Army’s Red Shield Services Director.