We love receiving photos of how we’re connecting with Canadians across the country…and across oceans. The photo above is of Lt Parker Donaldson (left) and Lt Durant (right) with Don Cherry in Afghanistan, wearing the Molson Canadian caps that we sent over for Operation Santa Claus this year!
Thank you for sharing these photos and for your brave service. Cheers to you!
Group shot (Lt. Parker Donaldson on far right)
BEST. DAY. EVER. last week when we got a letter from Ryan Seguin, TUAV Ops in Kandahar. Ryan is one of the members of the TUAV Hockey Team in Afganistran that Molson has been supporting over the last year (see pics and read more about the team), and we were thrilled last Thursday to receive two parcels in the mail from him. Just had to post a blog about it – was blown away by what he sent! Check it out.
Kevin Boyce, CEO and President, Molson
Ryan sent us a propeller that was on the UAV that had flown over Afghanistan during a mission in March. All the hockey team members signed the propeller. Everyone wrote a little note too, which was the best part!
Messages on the propeller
Messages on the propeller
Messages on the propeller
They also sent us some Pashmina’s from the local area. The ladies in the office loooooooved these!
Thank you to Ryan, the Hockey team and ALL our Canadian Armed Forces. Cheers from all of us at Molson….@toniahammer
A few emails were traded back and forth between Melissa at Kraft and some of our Molson Canadian brand folks. In fact our Chief Marketing Officer was made aware that Melissa had reached out to Molson and the conversation quickly evolved to one of inter company engagement. Melissa’s brother is in Kabul and Melissa was putting together a care package to be sent to him and his fellow soldiers and also to be a bit of Canada for the next round of soldiers who will arrive. Molson has a long standing tradition of sending product every year, as well as engagement in the annual Operation Santa Claus and most recently answering a request of the soldiers for hockey jerseys for their Kandahar Hockey team. It seems like such a small thing for us to do in support of those who serve our country abroad and make us proud to be Canadian. So, Melissa put out the challenge and the Kraft and Molson care package came together quickly. It was also very touching to see that Melissa’s brother and fellow troops in Afghanistan were doing some of their own community relations in that they had provided fruit and stuffed animals to Afghanistan children in a local orphanage on Christmas day. Melissa’s brother, in a note to her, commented about how he and his fellow soldiers felt that this kind of generosity is a true value of Canadian culture. I’d love to share the pictures of the smiling faces of the children in the orphanage on the blog, but best to respect their privacy…but, oh my gosh, what moving pictures of these children. Hats off to Melissa and the Kraft team for embracing this opportunity, for reaching out to us and letting Molson play a small role in continuing support of our Canadian Troops around the globe.
In Adam’s blog yesterday, he mentioned that we created some custom Molson Canadian jerseys for the Kandahar Hockey League (KLH) in Afghanistan.
Well, the jerseys arrived at Molson in Toronto this morning and we’ll be shipping them out later today….but first, we thought we’d model them for all to see! (Thanks to my fabulous Molson models Paul and Barb).
Each Jersey is personalized for the players (Paul)
Face-off (Me, Barb, Paul)….I won
The KHL team logo on the front (Paul)
We’ve asked the team to send a group photo once they’ve received the jerseys so I can post it here too. Cheers and good luck in the playoffs!
Supporting our Troops has been a longstanding tradition at Molson dating back to the late 18th century, when John Molson himself would brew beer for soldiers stationed near Montreal. Today, it’s our great pleasure and honour to continue that tradition by sharing a little piece of home with those brave men and women deployed all over the world representing our country so well.
So once again this year we’ve sent over 10,000 cans of Molson Canadian to soldiers stationed all over the world, from Afghanistan to Southwest Asia. The beer is designated for special occasions set to take place on Canadian Bases such as Christmas and New Year’s Eve, when off-duty soldiers can partake in the season’s festivities. In addition to our beer donation, we’re also donating 3,000 custom-designed baseball caps – one for every single deployed troop. The caps will be included in holiday care packages sent by the Department of National Defense’s Operation Santa Claus program.
One final story to share with you that makes us all proud is about a call we received through our consumer hotline back in November from Kandahar. Ryan Seguin from the TUAV (Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) flight group in Afghanistan told us about his team that plays in the KHL – Kandahar Hockey League – who play twice a week when they are not operationally committed. Ryan tells us that playing in the KHL is an excellent opportunity to give their minds a rest and gives them a taste of home. Ryan was looking for a sponsor for the team’s jerseys and obviously we jumped at the chance to support Ryan and his teammates. We’ve since created a custom jersey for their team, which we hope will arrive on the ground soon, just in time for the playoffs. Good luck boys!
So, from all of us here at Molson – happy holidays to all of our Canadian Armed Forces and their families. Please know that wherever you’re spending the holidays this year we are thinking of you and raising a toast to your brave service.
We encourage anyone else looking to make a donation to our Canadian Troops to visit the following sites to find out more about how you can help.
Canadian Forces Personal and Family Support Services
Send a holiday message to the Troops
And here are some other Canadian Military Blogs you may want to check out. Cheers.
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?cid=326&sc=110
http://www.alphamikefox.blogspot.com
http://rmcnavyguy.blogspot.com/
http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/
