Posti and the war veteran associations are organizing a card campaign for the ninth time. The campaign provides all Finns with the opportunity to bring joy to our war veterans and war-time women.
“The card campaign is a valued tradition for us. For the generation of veterans, letters and cards are a familiar way of staying in touch. With this in mind, we want our campaign to show our veterans, our war-time women and former Lotta women and girls how highly they are regarded by Finns for what they did for our independent Finland,” says Sami Määttä, responsible for domestic consumer letter services.
The card campaign will start on Monday, October 16, and cards can be sent until November 12. Posti will deliver the cards to the veterans and war-time women by Independence Day. There are about 2,300 veterans remaining in Finland as well as approximately 7,000 war-time women, 600 Lotta women and 3,200 Lotta girls.
The purpose of the campaign is to bring relief to the loneliness of the men and women of our wars, joy to Independence Day and a warm spirit in anticipation of Christmas.
“Even the youngest of our war veterans are nearly 100 years old. It warms my heart that we still have the opportunity today to thank and pay tribute to them, the guarantors of Finland’s independence,” says Pia Mikkonen from the Sotiemme Veteraanit I Sotiemme Naiset (Our War Veterans I The Women of our Wars) fundraiser.
“The average age of the Lotta Svärd volunteers is also rather impressive: as many as 235 of them are 100 years old or older. The secret to the women volunteers’ long life is a curious, hard-working, caring and selfless approach to the world. I hope this will be passed on to future generations. For this reason, I encourage all young people in particular to learn more about the Lotta Svärd tradition and send a postcard to a hero of their own,” says Susan Mykrä from the Lotta Svärd Foundation.
Cards can be sent by private individuals, school classes, communities as well as companies.
You participate in the campaign by writing a greeting on a card. Attach a stamp and send to the campaign address. You can also send several cards at once. Then put the cards in an envelope and attach the number of stamps required by the weight to the envelope. Cards inside the envelope do not need a stamp.
Send the cards no later than 12 November to the address:
Posti Ltd A card for a veteran P.O. Box 7230 FI-00002 HELSINKI, Finland
Mail carriers will deliver the cards to veterans, our war-time women, former Lotta women and girls as well as war widows according to the address information provided by Finland's War Veteran Association (Suomen Sotaveteraaniliitto), the Disabled War Veterans Association of Finland (Sotainvalidien Veljesliitto), Veteran Soldiers (Rintamaveteraaniliitto), the Aid Society for War Widows and Relatives of the Fallen (Kaatuneitten Omaisten liitto) and the Lotta Svärd Foundation.
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