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The strike by workers at Canada Post has prompted a group of Oxford County fathers to help Santa ensure children’s letters to the North Pole are returned before Christmas Eve.
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Dads of Oxford County – a support group for fathers formed in November 2023 – is partnering with the Ingersoll Cheese and Agricultural Museum to make sure kids writing to Kris Kringle have letters delivered from him personally with the help of an elf through its Letters from Santa delivery program.
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The group’s creator Chad Gee said he and fellow co-founder Jeremy Ward came up with the idea to act as letter couriers to help St. Nick due to the absence of postal employees, who’ve been on the picket line since Nov. 15.
“Canada Post is on strike . . . if you send a letter to Santa, it’s just going to stay in the red box until the strike is over, and then you’re not going to get a letter back until, who knows?” Gee, 28, said.
The initiative is in co-ordination with Santa’s Village that runs every Saturday until Dec. 21 at the Ingersoll museum at 290 Harris St. in the city’s east, where attendees can meet Santa and Mrs. Claus, use writing stations and be a part of holiday story time.
“We’re bringing the magic of the holiday directly to the children of Oxford County with the help of Dads of Oxford,” said museum manager Stephanie Conron. “Santa’s Village is more than an event, it’s a community celebration of holiday spirit.”
Gee, a father to a son born in June 2022, said children who want to send letters they’ve penned to Santa can drop them off at numerous locations across the county, noting that as well as the museum, Dads of Oxford also has partnered with “22 small businesses” across Oxford County.
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The holiday season is a “perfect time to support local businesses” and help those in need, Gee said in a statement.
The group, founded in November 2023, has received more than a hundred letters addressed to the North Pole, he said.
“We’ve kind of stepped in to fulfil the need for it,” Gee said of the group that has about 95 online members and meets in-person at least twice a month.
About 55,000 Canada Post employees walked off the job three weeks ago as the busiest time for letter and parcel traffic quickly approaches.
Canada Post employees are asking for a 22 per cent wage hike during four years, improved benefits as well as clarity regarding issues involving part-time staff.
The union also is concerned with how the corporation is choosing to handle weekend parcel delivery while it attempts to keep up with competitors such as FedEx and Amazon.
Canada Post has countered the union’s wage increase by offering an 11 per cent pay hike.
The submission deadline to submit letters through the initiative is Dec. 15 and a return address must be indicated on the letter.
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada
WHERE TO SUBMIT LETTERS
To see where to address the letters to Santa visit https://www.facebook.com/dadsofoxford
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