In Memory of Frank N. Boosamra

On April 7th, 2010 I lost a very good friend who I never met in person.  I had this posted on my old blog and wanted to re-share on here as I came across his "Joke" folder today and I thought of him.

April 7th, 2010
It is with a very heavy heart that I am typing this as yesterday I found out that one of the most amazing people I have had the pleasure of crossing paths with passed away.

Frank N Boosamra a retired member of the Canadian Forces after 32 years of service passed away on April 7th, 2010 and this write up is my tribute to him and for his family.

In April of 2007 I created a group in Support of The Canadian Forces and Frank was the 2nd or 3rd member of this group. I sent him a Face Book friend request and he volunteered to help out in anyway possible so I made him an administrator of the group. As the numbers grew and other ideas came along Frank was always there to offer support and help with anything I would create or come up with.

The first group I had started for sending coffee to troops had gotten some media attention and after the TV interview I had gotten a lot of supportive emails but my first negative email I had shared with Frank as I was upset about it. It had read something to the effect of “You should spend less time in Tim Horton’s eating donuts and hit a treadmill once in awhile”

Franks Response word for word “Dave, Our men and women serving and those veterans that gave their lives for us have given this moron the right to talk out of his ass, move along”

I’ll never forget those words as long as I live and any time I do receive negative emails of any kind I think about what Frank said and will carry that with me for as long as I am involved in Support Our Troops efforts.

We then together came up with the idea of petitioning to Canada Post to issue a stamp honoring our war heroes. A little over a year later it came out with help from Frank and everyone who signed it.

Frank loved his humour and was one of the most sarcastic people I have ever met in my entire life, when you’re someone like me who appreciates sarcasm this goes a long way. That being said Frank would always take a dig when he could against my hockey team the Toronto Maple Leafs and here is one that made me laugh the hardest that he had sent me on November 1st, 2009.

I could count on some amazing jokes from him at least two to three times a week and I will certainly miss that.

Frank always spoke about his family and from reading all the comments on his Face Book page and memorial group its apparent how much he was truly loved and will be missed. I am a better person for having known Frank and will be forever grateful for all his help with my projects, humour and life in general. If Frank saw something in my status that had nothing to do with any of my groups or sites that he knew I was upset about he would be the first person to message me and ask if everything was ok, send his number and tell me his ears were always open.

You see, Frank & I never met in person and I have come across a lot of people in the last three years that i would call acquaintances but Frank you were a true friend, like a family member to me, and I will miss you. I know you’re in a better place right now making people laugh and your passing has only fuelled my desire to continue all the things that I do as part of my site and groups like never before.

I know if you could read this you would probably tell me to “Suck it up buttercup” as you said to me on one occasion but this has probably been the hardest blog I’ve had to write.

Thank You for your service to our great country, and may you Rest In Peace

My Interview with Cody Jackson - The One Boy USO

I recently was informed about a very special child in the Georgia region who regularly goes to his local airport to say thank you to our men and women returning from various deployments. His name is Cody Jackson and at the age of eight years old has shaken the hands of more members of our military than most of us will in our entire lives. We could all learn a lot from the dedication this young man shows to our men and women in uniform and hopefully reading this will inspire some of you to do the same.

I recently sent his mom Kelly Jackson a request for an interview and her and Cody both replied to my questions below.

Cody with his family

Thankasoldier : When did Cody start this effort and what lead him want to start welcoming home soldiers?
Kelly Jackson : Cody has thanked police and firemen since 2 years old and it was only after we explained 9/11 to him when he was 4 years old that he took thanking our military as his own mission. He would thank them where ever we might be, even chasing down veterans (looking for those hats)

Thankasoldier : What is the reaction of the troops when they see you coming to shake their hands?
Kelly Jackson : Most are so very busy, but you can tell by the smile they get that they are at the very least amused I would hope they are grateful, but I try to stay out of the way and let Cody do his own thing...I try and thank them afterward, but whatever conversation he has is usually between the soldier and the boy.

Cody : they say thank you and go on their way, it is the few that actually stop and kneel down to talk a little, and tell him they do appreciate it.

Thankasoldier : What is the most memorable moment you've had in the time you have been doing this?
Cody : there are a few, touring the USS Truman, Major Krick of the Marines giving me a full Marine uniform complete with name tapes, and of course just the smiles on the guys faces.

Thankasoldier : What would you say to other young people who may not share the same views as you do?
Cody : It is the right thing to do. They don't have to risk their lives, they chose to do it and we should be thankful, I get teased a little bit but that doesn’t bother me any

Thankasoldier : We saw a soldier giving you a coin on the CNN story how many items have you received from troops and what would be your favourite?
Cody : I’ve gotten maybe 25 or so patches, coins, pins, and even awards. He cant think of one that is more special than the others...except maybe the ones given to him by his grandfather. Every one is special, they came from a hero

Thankasoldier : How many soldiers has cody said “Thank You” to ?
Kelly  Jackson : at least 10,000. January 4,2012 there are at least 5000-6000, Cody spent hours going down the line shaking hands. Many, many other trips there would be 500-600, just add it up along with all the others he sees day to day at the stores, amusement parks, etc.

Thankasoldier : When you're not at the airport welcoming home our serving men and women what do you like to do for fun?
Cody : I play baseball, boyscouts, i like to shoot and just play outside

Thankasoldier : I'm sure your parents are very proud of you how involved are they in what you do?
Kelly Jackson : We will help him with "advertising" to get his donations, drive him to and from airports, we are helping with his books for publishing, but generally we are just the gophers...go fer this, go fer that. He is the main power, if he said he was done, we would have to stop...but I don’t see that happening!

Thankasoldier : Not only do you welcome home our troops but you also send care packages to troops, how many of these have you sent over?
Kelly  Jackson : It would take months to collect $100 to send a package, and we would pay the $50 to ship it, so we havent had the opportunity to do a lot of shipping. Previous to the CNN airing, he only shipped 2 (a 6 month effort). We have since shipped 3 more, within one month. Quite a feat!

Cody : We have enough funds for another 3 boxes, then we will be out of funds again, and will have to start saving up!

Thankasoldier : Some Marines call you the "Little Marine" do you have plans to join the Marine Corps when you are old enough?
Cody : Yes, I want to be a sniper!!

Click Here to check out Cody's Facebook page "The One Boy USO" 

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One click of a button can make a difference

Last night I had the honour of attending the Heroes Hockey Challenge gala in Calgary, Alberta I met some amazing people every rank from Private to Colonel and got to shake a lot of hands and say Thank You.  I have a lot of memories last night that will stay with me forever however there is one that I have to share.

After all the speeches were done and the meal was over I had a soldier walk up to me and say "You're Dave Murphy right?" I nodded shook his hand and said "Thanks for what you do" he looked at me and said no "If it wasn't for your website I might not even be here today"

He told me that he had just gotten back from his second tour from Afghanistan and was having severe PTSD symptoms and couldn't deal with it any more.  He said when he was in a public place and heard a child crying he wouldn't know what to do with himself.  "I was on sleeping meds and I was ready to take the whole bottle one night and just end it, I logged in to Facebook and saw that a friend had shared one of your videos and I decided to watch"

He was referring to the "Operation You Are Not Alone" video I launched on YouTube on May 2011 and after seeing this, he messaged another soldier who had left a comment saying "Anyone want to talk, I've been through this and here to help"  He's now getting the help he needs and this blew me away as hearing stories like this coming from a YouTube video.

He brought me over to his table and got to meet his girlfriend and mother which was also amazing and overwhelming as his mother said "Dave if it wasn't for your project my son might not even be here" I was stuck for words.

That being said it takes one second to share the posts on "Thank A Soldier" and you never know what kind of difference you could be making.

The Order Of St. George

January 25th, 2012

Today I am honoured and truly humbled to announce that I have been chosen to become a member of "The Order Of St. George". I just spoke with the Grand Master The Chevalier Gareth J. Green, CD, KGCStG Grand Master of Canada and The Americas and he informed me of the official news.

On the weekend of October 12th & 13th I will be knighted at a ceremony in Toronto at St. Pauls Cathedral and will post more information when it becomes available if you would like to attend.

When I started Tim Hortons for our Troops five years ago I was called to the Military Family Resource Center to meet Major John Haylock (Canadian Forces) who would be delivering the over $10,000 in Timmies certificates they had received through members of my Facebook page to send to Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

I had stayed in contact with him for years and sent care packages for him to give out to soldiers while he was on deployment and have kept in contact throughout the years.

He recently submitted my name for nomination for the Order and today it became official, I've had to keep this a secret for about the last month which is really hard for anyone who knows me but I can hardly explain in words on a blog how much this means to me.

Some well respected people are members of this order such as former General Rick Hillier, Lewis Mackenzie & Andrew Leslie and I am honoured to join them.  The Order of St. George does a lot of work for military charities and I hope I can help them with all of their efforts in the future.

I want to say THANK YOU to Major John Haylock for thinking of me for this amazing honour and I will certainly do my best to make them proud.  Some amazing things are coming up with our page and website such as "The Wall Of Gratitude" and another secret project I have in the works so I have no plans in slowing things down a notch.

Thank You all for being a part of my efforts whether its following on Twitter, Sharing on Facebook, sending photos for Gratitude Project and everything else, none of my efforts would be anything without my amazing group members who take part in all of them and show our men and women serving from all countries we support them.

Thank You 

Dave Murphy - Calgary Alberta

April 2007 - Meeting Major John Haylock who delivered Tim Hortons Certificates to soldiers for our Facebook page 

I am inviting any members to this event that are close to the Toronto Area to come to the public ceremony at 1pm on October 13th, 2012 you can RSVP ON FACEBOOK

Elton Adams releases new single "Canadian Girls"

MCpl Elton Adams has released a new song this week called "Canadian Girls" featuring Canadian Country recording artist Julian Austin.   We have featured Elton's music on our page many times and his song "What A Soldier Left Behind" has over 40,000 views on YouTube.  Elton and I also worked together for a project to promote PTSD awareness which featured his song `Hard` and has over 54,000 views too.

``The song Canadian Girls is dedicated to Canada's amazing strong and independent women. The song covers all areas of success for Canadian women especially Canada’s precious female soldiers.`` - Elton Adams

You can get this song on Elton's website for $0.99 and also here a sample of it on his webpage.  Elton has also said that if you buy his first album, he will send the song for free as well as a signed copy.

For every SHARE of this photo on Facebook you`ll be entered to win a FREE signed copy of Elton`s CD and the song Canadian Girls.  Plus you will receive ONE bonus entry in to our HEROES HOCKEY JERSEY contest.

Also for every tweet via the Tweet button you will also receive a bonus entry in to both contests.

Lets show this fine soldiers support and help him get his music out there.

Visit EltonAdams.com to purchase the song today! 

40% off on "Ryushin"!! Only 5 more days to go!!

Kofuu-Senju Publications classic book of Irezumi master Horiyoshi III's fantastic dragon painitngs is still obtainable for merely 119 Euro plus shipping. The offer ends on January 26th, so be on your toes for this one!
Find more info in the upper right of this blog.

Horiyoshi III of Yokohama.
photo by Alex reinke

Ryu to botan Irezumi backpiece in the works.Today I colored the

Today I colored the big pink botan (peony) and the details of the dragons head. The yellow is still a bit bloddy in the photo, but usually rotary machine  works stops bleeding within the minute.

This traditional japanese tattoo has been in the works for a few years now. Odd how time slips away. Another appointment is scheduled for thursday next week and I plan to get a lot done during those three hours.

Toronto Maple Leafs - Canadian Forces Night

On Saturday night the Leafs lost 3-0 to New York Rangers on the Canadian Forces special appreciation night at Air Canada Centre (ACC,) and the crowd was very receptive to the ceremony.

It was a very moving ceremony and over 400 troops were on hand as season ticket holders of the Leafs donated their tickets to the men and women of the Canadian Forces. One of the real highlights of the evening was when soldiers from the Warfare Centre in Trenton repelled down from the rafters. One of the soldiers even ripped open his uniform to display a Maple Leaf t-shirt to an astounding applause.

The Maple Leafs often hold special nights and this one was particularly special as there was not a dry eye in the rink or across Canada on CBC, during the opening ceremonies. A class act by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE,) as they are well know for running a classy organization.

You can also purchase Canadian Forces Night merchandise with a portion of the proceeds going to military charities on the Real Sports website.

Selling of tebori tools for irezumi (the traditional Japanese tattoo)

I am selling some of my Tebori (hand tattooing tools). Custom made for me by a local knifemaker and blacksmith. This one turns into a hand made knife with a supersharp beautiful damscus blade in tanto shape. Sheath made from laquered birch. Handle from birch and iron. It fits with the needle cartouches designed by Horiyoshi III and they are available from the Yokohama Tattoo Museum. Price is 400 Euro.

This one is antique ivory with iron and brass. Price is 3000 Euro.

If interested mail me at matti@horimatsu.com. Since I am going to the Milan Tattoo Convention in the beginning of February it is possible to bring the items there for delivery. However the item/items  have to be paid in advance.

Don't miss out on the great offer of 40% off on the classic horiyoshi III book "Ryushin".

Horiyoshi III tattooing in Yokohama september 2009.

As mentioned earlier, Kofuu-Senju Publications are celebrating the upcoming release of their new book, "Dentowaza" by lowering the price of "Ryushin" until the 26th of january!
This is a strictly limited edition of 1000 copies of which two thirds are already sold, so this is Your opportunity to walk away with a book that is a must for anyone into irezumi, the traditional Japanese tattoo.

Here's the Kofuu-Senju Publications blog.

Veteran's Surprise Proposal

MCpl Daniel  Gray-Owen

MCpl Daniel Gray-Owen is a member of the Canadian Forces who I met about three years ago on Facebook when he was about to go on tour in Afghanistan nd got to speak with him many times during his deployment.

I met him in person for the first time in December of 2009 when we hosted a live concert at the Royal Canadian Legion here in Calgary featuring another soldier MCpl Elton Adams. When he returned from his most recent tour he had something very special lined up for his girlfriend Stephanie.

Stephanie is a comedian and she had a live show scheduled and didn't think MCpl Gray-Owen would be home for a few days after.  Little did she know that he was home two days earlier and hiding back in the kitchen for three hours waiting for Stephanie to take the stage for her performance that night.

"I meet her in Medicine hat in 2005 we talked and that was the last time i saw her unitl about a month later and asked her out but she fake numbered me. I seen her a few months later and gave her shit for it. I then asked to hang out with her but she made the excuse that she was hanging out with her Dad and he didn't like boys around when he was out with her daughter but it turns out that her dad was a friend a local DJ at the club that I always went to. When I showed up at the table I was like Steve he was like Dan and Im guessing she was like SHIT. We went out for our first date the next day

In 2008 I got posted out east and she was moving to Calgary to start her career in movies and stand up, I lost track with her for about a year but got to see her before I deployed. We got to spend one last night together before I left to go to Afghanistan" - Mcpl Daniel Gray-Owen

A very special Golden Retriever

So let me tell you about Tori, a very special Golden Retreiver

In January 2011, Tori, a 10.5-year-old golden retriever, signed up to walk 250 miles to help Troy & Mareike Yocum raise funds for struggling military families through Drum Hike/Hike for Heroes. 275 miles later, she succeeded in raising almost $4700 for the cause!

Last year when we did The Gratitude Project I received a photo of Tori for the project.

Tori also visits with veterans in local hospitals

CHECK OUT TORIS FACEBOOK PAGE ``IT`S TORI TIME``



Here`s a video of Tori`s journey to raise funds for military families:

Chushingura Irezumi backpiece getting colored in.

Anton is getting somewhere with his Chushingura full body Irezumi piece.

Over christmas Anton returned in order to start coloring his Chushingura (Loyal 47 Ronin) backpiece. In the en we will end up with a fully closed (Donburi) body suit in one way or the other incorporating all the famous fortyseve ronin.

For anyone interested in this story, it's true and fabled backgrounds, please visit the in depth website of Samurai Archives.

Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen Irezumi piece completed.

Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen in their famous stand off .

Uesugi Kenshin (top) and Takeda Shingen (bottom).  Characters based on a Kabuki woodblock print by Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900)

Fugen Bosatsu bonji.

 This piece was started about 4 years ago. During that time Emanuel moved away to Stockholm in order to study, and the opportunities to complete it has been scarce since then. However, a few days after the new year we made a joint effort and finally reached the end of the journey.

Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin are two very famous samurai Daimyo (lords) and if you click their names you read about them at the eminent Samurai Archives website.

Vote for The Military Wives Choir for Best Single

Adele, Ed Sheeran, Example, Jessie J, JLS, Olly Murs, One Direction, Pixie Lott, The Wanted & The Military Wives Choir.  What do they all have in common?  They're all up for "BEST SINGLE" at this years Brit Awards on Febuary 21st.

Their song "Whereever You Are" recently won the Chrismtas Number one single this past holiday season and with your help we can turn the music world upside down in the UK by helping them win Best single this year.

Winning this award would keep the profile of the single high and therefore help to add to the money already raised for both the charities they are supporting SSAFA Forces Help and Poppy Legion (Royal British Legion) and imagine the shake up it would cause in the music world if a group of military wives were to wing BEST SINGLE OF THE YEAR!

 Members of the Military Wives Choir at the BRIT Awards Nominations Launch Party

You don't have to be in the UK to vote as I just filled out the voting form and will post the steps below.

1. Go to the BRIT AWARDS WEBSITE
2. Click on Register to create an account (this takes two minutes)

3. Cast your vote for `The Military Wives Choir by selecting them and clicking on vote

4, Share this link on your Facebook by simply copying and pasting on to your Facebook wall or you can join our Facebook page and click the share button on our post.

If you haven`t heard this amazing song the video will be below.  Thanks everyone are you ready..................

Memorial for fallen Canadian soldiers returns home

The cenotaph has long been a sombre fixture at the airfield, located behind the two-storey Canadian headquarters and a few paces from the spot where tents for journalists once stood. In mid November a team of engineers started the process of dismantling the memorial and today it arrived back on Canadian soil.

Every name on every plaque had been safely removed and placed in wooden crates and the memorial is currently in storage in a undisclosed location in Ottawa.with plans to have it publicly displayed eventually in the Ottawa region.

I`ve posted a video from The Canadian Army news about the repatriation of the memorial back in November 2011.

Video via Canadian Army News 

Horiyoshi III book of dragon paintings, Ryushin, 40% off for a limited time!

 Coinciding with the release of our new Irezumi book, Dentowaza,  we are offering our classic first book Ryushin at a reduced price. Perhaps the best book to date featuring the ink paintings of master Horiyoshi III of Yokohama. Orginally priced at 199 Euro plus shipping it is now available for 119 Euro plus shipping. Shipping worldwide is 35 Euro.
 Easiest way to order is to pay directly to our PayPal account senju@kofuusenjupublications.com. Write "Ryushin 40% off", so we know what you are ordering.
The offer is valid until the 26th of January 2012.

The History of Thank A Soldier

In April 1994 I was involved in a stabbing attack by three guys and severly injured.  Two off duty 

firefighters thankfully were driving by and saw me on the sidewalk and not only saved my left leg from 

being amputated but saved my life.  For years after that I would on random occasions drop of Tim Hortons 

coffee to firehalls just to show my gratitude.

April 2007

I had heard that a Tim Hortons had opened for Canadian soldiers in Kandahar, Afghanistan 

and that they were paying for coffee.  Even though all funds from that location went back in to programs 

for our soldiers Tim Hortons for our Troops group on face book launched, for sending Tim Hortons coffee 

to soldiers in Afghanistan, In the nearly four years that it was open we sent over 50,000 in free coffee 

certificates with messages of support on the back.

September 2007 

Operation Pen Pal launched on Face Book, purpose matching soldiers and civilians from members of the Coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq and soldiers around the world. To date we have matched over 9000 soldiers and civilians at no cost to anyone.  Note : This group does not exist as it has just been merged with our current Facebook page an addresses are provided when they become available.

October 2007 

Group created called Petition to Canada Petition To Canada Post For A Support Our Troops Stamp

Purpose: A petition to Canada post to issue a stamp honouring the sacrifice of Canadian Heroes it 

received 6600+ signatures and and letters were sent to the stamp committee and this stamp honouring 

veterans and current soldiers which was released in  October of 2009

December 2008 

my website coffee4ourtroops.com had been hacked and shut down by a group of people in a foreign region claiming they found security faults in my website. I was devastated when I had seen this. Almost two 

years of work, photos from soldiers, guest book messages, all gone, I was almost ready to quit. I talked 

to a mother of a fallen soldier and she told me the things I do for the soldiers and their families mean 

too much and that I had to think about the soldiers who lose their friends while serving. They don’t 

quit, they get up the next day and have to soldier on and that is what I did. I was determined to get it 

back in some way.

April 2008

 Support For Military families and Injured Soldiers group was created on face book

Purpose: A Networking site for connecting families of soldiers, and Injured soldiers to each other

I have met so many amazing family members of soldiers through this group and injured soldiers and its 

making a big difference as these people are meeting each other.  Note : this group has also merged with 

our current Facebook page

May 2008 

created an application on face book called “Military Gifts” just a fun application for the military 

community to send photos to each other on face book, weapons, memorials, jets, ships, base logos, all in 

small photos that go on each others profile when you send them.

March 2009 

I joined Twitter after hearing that a show in the USA called "Red Eye" was making fun of Canadian 

soldiers who were ending their combat role in 2011. they said they were going to be "Taking a Break" and 

"Doing artwork" and basically making a mokery of our soldiers.  This was on a day when we had lost four 

soldiers in Afghanistan and I joined to give them a piece of my mind, hahah little did I know I would 

meet some amazing people and military related folks through the page.

December 2009

the Thank a soldier cause was launched as I wanted to merge all my groups in to one Facebook page and at the time this was the best way to do that.  In three years it grew to over 4.1 million members 

March 2010 

The Gratitude Project Launched : I asked group members to send in photos holding thank you 

signs and was expecting enough to make one video of people holding these signs scrolling.  We received

enough photos to make 10 ten minute long YouTube videos and the resposne was amazing.  Even celebreties like Gene Simmons, Shannon Tweed, Trooper, Julian Austin, Jason McCoy got involved and sent in photos for this amazing project.

January 2010 - Gene Simmons & Shannon Tweed send photo for The Gratitude Project, post to their twitter page and websites.  This was probably one of the biggest things to ever happen to our page as the number of people participating and joining the page started to grow like wildfire.

May 2010 - A powerful YouTube video was launched called "The Battle Of The Mind " to promote PTSD awareness, it received over 50,000 views on youtube and some pretty powerful comments and has actually helped soldiers going through the same thing meet each other.

January 2011 - The "Thank A Soldier Monthly" was launched, a newspaper style blog where group members can submit stories and write ups with whatever is on their mind.  We have posted over 100 articles in the one year of existence and allows me to update more frequently about our projects and other groups doing great things.

October 2011 - The Wall of Gratitude idea was posted and will be launching in the next month.

November 2011 - Attended the Grey Cup with a member of the Canadian Forces and his father in Vancouver and also his wife came along for the trip.  His wife had nominated him for an "All Star Dad" contest via Facebook for a trip for him and his family to go and after they had won they invited me along.  We got to meet Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed at the game too which is something I will never forget

December 2011 - "Thank A Soldier" Facebook page is launched.   Even though the "CAUSES" application had been amazing in the past three years a lot of members were not interacting and the numbers were slowing.  I had sent out a member survey and people said they wanted a page where they didn't have to leave Facebook as an app to access our page so thus the creation of the "Fan Page" format.  In one month its grown to over 40,000 members and is by far the most interactive effort to date.

There are a lot of things I didn't post in this timeline and some things I cherish and keep to myself, alot of the military community have met through our website and pages.  Alot of civilians have become friends with soldiers via pen pals and family members of fallen soldiers have helped each other grieve.  I hope this post has helped you better understand that what we do is not a charity or a non profit its a movement.  A place for people to share whatever they like in the common theme of showing gratitude for our men and women in uniform.

Thank you all for being a part of the last nearly 4.5 years and to those just finding out about our site, thanks for checking it out and looking forward to what the next four years bring.

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Christmas Cards 4 Veterans - Thank You Everyone

Christmas Cards for Veterans

A few weeks before Christmas I had posted a blog with an address to send cards to Veterans at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Ontario and I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to send one over.

I want say thank you to everyone at Sunnybrook Hospitals Twitter Page who were glad to accept my request so close to Christmas and helping us make this happen for our Veterans.

This was Sunnybrooks note today on Facebook : 

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre With the help of Thank A Soldier, this winter people from across North America sent holiday cards to our WWII and Korean War veterans. On December 25 and 26, over 200 of our vets received the cards and read their messages of gratitude. Thanks will never be enough! 

A Sunnybrook Veteran reads a card from one of our members on Christmas Day 

Their Recreational Therapist enjoyed handing them out and watching the reactions and also I heard from a friend on Twitter that one of the Veterans had sent a thank you note back to them which is amazing. 

Every year leading up to Remembrance Day you can donate a flag in the name of our fallen heroes and send a message of thanks for their courage and sacrifice.

The flagswill  be placed on the lawn in front of Sunnybrook's Veterans Centre on November 11 so Canada's Veterans can see that citizens across the country recognize and value their courageous contributions.

Flags are available in 2 sizes for a $20 or $50 donation and are eligible for a tax receipt.  Help get the word out about  Operation Raise a Flag today.