Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world … 

Margaret Mead, anthropologist

“We’re just three girls who wanted to do something for our Defenders,” says Tamara about the Postcards to the Front project that they organized in Ukraine.

Tamara is a Postcrosser. That is, she’s a member of Postcrossing.com, which has over 800,000 members globally. The goal of Postcrossing is to allow anyone to send and receive postcards from all over the world. Great fun for lovers of postcards, stamps, snail mail, and writing and receiving personal hand-written notes.

One week after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Tamara, who owned a postcard shop, thought: why not send postcards with messages of support and encouragement to the Defenders of Ukraine?

She closed her shop and started to look for ways to get cards to the front line defenders. She learned about an organizer at the front lines who arranged to send letters and postcards from the front to thank donors for their contributions to Ukraine’s defence efforts. Tamara gave them postcards and envelopes from her shop stock to use for their project. When the organizer was seriously injured, that project came to a halt.

Undeterred, Tamara looked for other ways to send supportive hand-written messages to the front lines. She started by asking teachers if school children could write cards.

Teachers are “… the most organized … taking responsibility and giving lessons,” she says, and the cards are “so nice, so many drawings and [with] warm sincere words.”

Tamara posted on Instagram a call for volunteers to write cards. The first person to respond was her yoga teacher. She had left her yoga business to organize a shelter for residents fleeing the brutal bombing of Mariupol. Many residents from a number of such shelters joined the volunteer pool, writing postcards to support those defending their homes and cities.

Naturally, Tamara tapped the Postcrossing community for support. “My beloved Postcrossers … send all the time [blank cards] for people [to write] in cafes and meetups.”

Tamara also started to hang out at cafes, writing cards and asking others to join her. Friend Ira got involved, organizing card-writing sessions in more cafes and other meetup places, as well as she organized the logistics of getting the cards to the front lines. Friend Marichka took on Instagram and Facebook promotion, quickly using social media to spread the word.

Their project, Postcards to the Front, has sent nearly 5,000 cards, with messages of support and encouragement, to the front line defenders.

“Big men are crying,” Tamara says of some of their reactions to the support and love that the defenders have received. Some “keep the favourite card near the heart.” And, she reports, a handful of romances have been sparked by the messages on those little bits of paper.

Tamara believes, “the moral support is sometimes more important than physical [support]!”

And she’s not alone in believing that a postcard can brighten up a few moments in the day of a front line defender.

Early in 2023, Peter, an Australian Postcrosser, had a strong desire to do something to support Ukraine’s defenders. He reached out to the Postcrossing community asking if anyone knew of a way to get messages of support to Ukraine. Tamara responded and by March, Postcards to the Front (Australia)was running, with the first 94 cards taking nearly a month to arrive in Ukraine. Amazing postal service, really, with a war raging! Nearly 1,000 postcards have now traveled from Australia to the front lines in Ukraine. ABC News in Australia has reported Peter’s efforts here.

CANADA: how many postcards can we send via Postcards to the Front (Canada)?

Let’s make a difference by putting pen to paper, and send messages of support and encouragement to Ukraine. Heart to heart.