Earlier this month, Pamala Heydt was telling me about her dream for Christmas.
The veteran – who can best be described as “effervescent” – wanted to collect a major batch of Christmas cards to take on a goodwill call to injured veterans receiving care at our local V.A. hospital.
“It’s Christmas time and it’s my way of giving back to soldiers what they’ve given to me,” said Heydt.
The Harpers Ferry, West Va., native found a family in the Army, when she joined up in 2007. In 2008, however, she had to bid that family goodbye, after a training accident in Fort Bliss, Tex., left her with just 40 percent of her vision.
Saying farewell to her fellow soldiers – and her dreams of serving her country – wasn’t easy. But after some reflection, and a cross-country move to begin vision therapy, Heydt regained her irrepressible humor, with her best friend and fellow soldier Will Zastawnik at her side, as a second set of eyes. She discovered Kent, found herself a sweet boyfriend, and decided it was time to start giving back.
That’s when she got ahold of the Kent Reporter, announcing her hoped-for Christmas card project, which she dubbed “Operation Christmas Love.”
Her goal was high: she wanted to collect 5,000 cards from the community, to thank the injured warriors doing downtime in the hospital during the holidays.
We put out the call, and over the next few weeks, we watched as the cards came in.
As of deadline day Monday, more than 400 cards had come in for Operation Christmas Love – many of them filled out by local youngsters, wishing our veterans the best for Christmas. The Mariners even contributed a nice little stack, bearing photos of their players.
Some of the participating youngsters even went beyond cards – Brownie Troop 41579 included handmade clothespin angels with their cards. Other youngsters contributed foam Christmas ornaments, upon which they wrote little Christmas messages.
At her apartment Monday, seeing the final batch of cards come in, Heydt was close to speechless. (Although knowing Heydt, “speechless” moments never last for long.)
“I’m on clouds – I’m really on clouds!” she exclaimed. “We’re gonna be delivering cards to as many clinics (in the Seattle V.A. Hospital) as we can.”
Heydt also said she was overwhelmed by some of the kind notes readers sent to her, personally.
“I am so sorry for the injury you received, but so delighted that you don’t let it get you down,” one reader wrote.
“I was so excited I cried,” said Heydt, after she read that card.
So, while Operation Christmas Love didn’t get as many cards as planned in its first-ever run, it certainly got enough to make some veterans very happy. Not to mention Heydt.
And while she and other volunteers will have dropped off the cards Wednesday to our veterans, that’s not the end of Operation Christmas Love.
Heydt’s making big plans for next year. Instead of just Christmas, though, she is hoping to organize card campaigns for other holidays. Her next big push, she said, will be Valentine’s Day. And of course Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, to name a few.
Regardless of what holiday we’re talking about, it looks like some veterans are getting a kind gesture from a fellow vet.
And the rest of us.
Talk to us
Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.
To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.
