Morale Mail, A Gesture of Gratitude for HMCS Ottawa

Care packages collected by the Esquimalt MFRC and Cowichan Valley Hospital are packaged and sent off to HMCS Ottawa while deployed over the holidays. Photos provided.

Paul Dagonese, 
Lookout Staff 

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As the holiday season approaches, a heartwarming collaboration between Island Health’s Cowichan District Hospital (CDH) and the Esquimalt Military Family Resource Center (MFRC) has ensured that the 250 sailors aboard His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Ottawa won’t feel forgotten while deployed far from home. A collection of care packages and handwritten notes from hospital staff is heading to the Pacific, carrying with it a simple message: We care.

“It’s a small but meaningful way to say thank you,” said Cynthia Turgeon, Business Support Associate at CDH. “Our staff (at CDH) are frontline healthcare workers, and they too stand in the gap.” For Turgeon this donation is about saying “We didn’t forget you. We don’t know you, but we so appreciate all that you do, the sacrifice you make, and the sacrifice your family makes by letting you go for many months at a time.”

The initiative began when Turgeon, inspired by Remembrance Day events and the military connections within the hospital’s staff, spoke to the  CDH BE WELL Committee, and reached out to the MFRC to explore how they could support deployed service members. The initiative quickly evolved into a months-long project involving donations of snacks, puzzles, and personalized holiday notes – complete with word searches and games – designed to brighten the sailors’ days.

A Partnership with Purpose

Jackie Carlé, Executive Director of the Esquimalt MFRC, emphasized the significance of the donation. What’s so special about this for Carlé is it’s an ‘inclusive’ show of kindness. Members may not get packages from home, but she says with this donation ‘nobody’s going to feel left out. Everybody’s going to get a package.’ 

The care packages will be distributed to the crew while they’re deployed across the Pacific during the Christmas season. The hope is these gestures will be a welcome reprieve from the challenges of being away from their families during such a meaningful time of year.

Carlé explains donations are typically sent by parents of crew members, who will often send gifts enough for a whole crew. But she says “This is the first time we’ve had such a big donation.”

The Human Connection

Behind the logistics of organizing such a big venture lies a deeply human story. Turgeon’s dedication to making each sailor feel individually valued was evident in the 250 handwritten cards she prepared with help from two colleagues.

“We had little cards here from an event, so on the front piece of the card I composed a handwritten note. And on the card’s backside I created a word search. Some of them had a word search, and some had an acrostic.”

For Carlé, the project reflects the resilience and generosity of local community. “It’s quite lovely coming from the Cowichan Valley because we do actually have a lot of members who live over the Malahat and who would potentially be patients and clients of the Cowichan Valley Hospital.”

A Broader Impact

The collaboration also highlights the values of service and community. For hospital staff, who have weathered their own trials during the pandemic, the project offered a way to extend compassion beyond their immediate roles. For the MFRC, it served as a reminder of the power of partnerships.

As the stockings make their way to HMCS Ottawa, the hope is that the sailors will feel the warmth of these small but significant gestures, and, as Turgeon puts it, they will help send a gift saying that “We didn’t forget you.”