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VIDEO: Schulte ‘overwhelmed’ by Christmas cards for Surrey’s homeless

She has received more than 600 Christmas cards for the homeless, with more to come
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Erin Schulte has received an outpouring of support after she started a campaign where the community could write Christmas cards for the homeless. (Trevor Beggs)

While many of us are either writing Christmas cards, hanging them over the fireplace, or both, there are some people who don’t usually get Christmas cards.

That would be the homeless.

It’s what inspired homeless advocate Erin Schulte to collect Christmas cards for the homeless earlier this month.

“This year, I was motivated to remind myself that Christmas isn’t about the things that you buy. It’s about giving back and spreading peace and love,” said Schulte.

“Lots of people don’t get a single gift but they still have the Christmas spirit. We wanted to honour a group that doesn’t really see a lot of joy this time of year.”

When she originally started the campaign, she would have been happy to collect one Christmas card for every homeless person on the strip — about 225 people.

Instead, she has been blown away by the outpouring of support from the community.

“When I put the call out, I never thought that it would look like this,” she said. “It’s taught me a lot about the strength and love in our community.”

After she posted her idea about collecting Christmas cards for the homeless on Facebook, she was contacted elementary school teachers, seniors homes and church groups.

She’s now received over 600 Christmas cards, and she’s expecting more within the next week.

Schulte said she was overwhelmed by the support, and even read out a few of the cards for the Now-Leader.

She read one card which said: “I just want to tell you that many people are thinking about you, and I didn’t want you to feel lonely during this holiday season.”

“I can’t thank everyone enough,” she said. “It’s made my Christmas.

With the extra cards, she will be handing them out to other tent cities and shelters around the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley.



trevor.beggs@surreynowleader.com

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