Community encouraged to join April’s “Mail Call Challenge”

Webster, are you up for a challenge?

Wreaths Across America, in partnership with the Blue Star Mothers ROC and the Gold Star Mothers Rochester, have thrown down a month-long challenge for the entire Webster community. It’s called “Mail Call! Letters From Home,” and its goal is ambitious: to collect 1,000 cards and letters from Webster to be sent to our local service members deployed overseas.

Two times a year, the Blue Star Mothers send care packages to our local service members who are deployed overseas. The service members say their favorite items are the cards and letters, even more than the toiletries and snacks. These simple messages keep them going, when home seems very far away.

One service member said he kept a young student’s card in his backpack throughout deployment. “Whenever I was scared, and didn’t feel like I could go on,” he said, “I’d take out that crayoned card, and know someone was thinking of me.”

You can imagine, then, the joy we can all spread with 1,000 cards and letters. THAT’s what the Mail Call challenge is all about.

All next month, more than a dozen Mail Call mailboxes will be placed at businesses throughout Webster. Community members are encouraged to write a personal note (or several) and deposit them in one of the boxes. If we work together, we can easily achieve that goal of 1,000 letters.

Here are some tips:

• The messages can be from adults and kids.
• No envelopes are needed (they add extra bulk to the care packages).
• Starting April 1, look for the special “mail boxes” stationed throughout Webster. (A list of locations is below.) Drop in the card you made at home, or take a moment to fill one out while you’re at the store.
• Cards and letters should be addressed: Dear Service Member.
• Include words of encouragement, and how much you appreciate their service.
• Include your first name and your town. The service members like to know where the cards come from.
• Spread the word to the groups in your life: Scouts, businesses, schools, social groups, sports teams, churches, etc. This challenge will take all of us.
• Go ahead and start now, and look for the mailboxes beginning Tuesday, April 1.

You can also plan to stop by the Webster Public Library on Saturday, April 5 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a community-wide card-making event in the Community Room. All supplies will be provided, and no registration is required. If you can’t make it to the library on Saturday, you can make a card/letter at home, or stop at the table in the library between Monday, April 7 and Saturday, April 12 to create a card/letter. Then drop it off in a special mailbox at the library.

Here are where all of the mailboxes will be located; they’ll all be in place by April 1.

• American Legion Cottreall-Warner Post 942: 818 Ridge Rd (back entrance).
• Jersey Mike’s Subs: 975 Ridge Rd.
• Key Bank: 1848 Empire Blvd.
• Key Bank: 980 Ridge Rd.
• Lowes Home Improvement: 900 Five Mile Line Rd.
• Mama Lor’s Cafe: 1891 Ridge Rd.
• Pearl Vision: (Wegmans plaza) 900 Holt Rd.
• Salvatore’s Old Fashioned Pizzeria: 195 North Ave/ (Rt 250)
• Village Quilt Shoppe: 21 E Main St.
• Webster Public Library: 980 Ridge Rd.
• Webster Recreation Center: 1350 Chiyoda Dr.
• Webster Town Hall: 1000 Ridge Rd.

All of the cards and letters collected during this special month-long event will be placed in care packages sent out in June by the Blue Star Mothers.

By the way, this project would not be successful without the enthusiastic support of the Webster Lowe’s, who donated 13 mailboxes, 13 posts, post brackets and buckets filled with cement to stand them in. And Vital Signs who made all the mailbox wrappers, and did so at a very generous discount.

The Mail Call! Letters From Home initiative is a joint effort by Wreaths Across America Webster, Blue Star Mothers ROC NY8 (military families), and Gold Star Mothers Rochester (who have lost a child on active duty).

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(posted 3/23/2025)

Tags: Local business, Missy Rosenberry, Village of Webster, Webster NY, Webster Public Library