Post Office employee sounds the call to give, locals answer

The San Martin’s Post Office was swimming in cards, wrapping paper, bows and ribbon last week after community members of San Martin, Morgan Hill and Gilroy donated holiday themed goods to troops stationed overseas in places where holiday stationary and wrapping paper are almost impossible to come by.
At least 1,000 cards, 100 rolls of wrapping paper, several dozens bows and coils of ribbon and countless address stickers arrived in the office last week as community members rallied to support servicemen and women overseas, following a story printed in this paper notifying the public of the effort.
“They thought it was a great idea and thanked me for what I was doing,” said Vietnam War veteran Bob Johnston, a post office employee spearheaded the effort. “Some of them didn’t even know I was a veteran.”
Johnston spent Christmas of 1971 serving overseas in Vietnam and remembers it was difficult to find holiday stationary to send back home.
This year, he noticed San Martin’s Post Office had packs of undeliverable sample Christmas cards sent by card manufacturers and even a couple of veterans organizations, who try to get people to participate in fundraisers.
The cards are sent by bulk mail, so if the intended receiver has moved, the cards become undeliverable and non-returnable.
Johnston got tired of throwing them out, and thought maybe they could be sent overseas to men and women who can’t find holiday cards locally.
For moms of servicemen serving – or soon to be serving overseas, the story hit close to home. One woman dropped off cards and told Johnston her son just joined the service and was in training.
“She’s kind choked up about what this is about knowing that later on he’ll be on the receiving end,” explained Johnston.
The cards didn’t just come from San Martin, as residents of Morgan Hill and Gilroy drove to the tiny post office off 200 E. San Martin Ave. to contribute to the growing number of bows, cards and ribbons.
Cards came in for all holidays – not just Christmas – so Johnston hopes the Blue Star Moms, who are organizing packages for the troops, will be able to use the goods all year long.
“It was a whole South County joint effort,” said Johnston. “Everybody got involved.”