COCHRANE— A giant thank you card is making the rounds in Cochrane to show front-line workers the essential roles they have played during the COVID-19 pandemic are appreciated.
Cochrane Alliance Church pastor Larry Charter said he was inspired to create the sign thanking front-line workers to ensure they know they are cherished and admired in the community.
“I thought one day, 'I’m going to make a sign that’s big and bold so our front-line workers will know we haven’t forgotten the kind services that they give to us,'” Charter said. “When someone does something for me I usually send them a thank you card— It’s been said that gratitude is the greatest virtue that any human being can show and I think this is just a small way of showing gratitude.”
Charter spent a day putting the sign together, he said, but got great joy out of the experience knowing that it was a thank you card for all the heroes who are helping keep Cochranites safe.
Charter will be moving the sign around town to ensure that everyone who needs to gets a chance to see it.
He first placed the giant thank you card at Bethany Cochrane Care Centre, followed by Points West Living and on Friday (May 1) it was sitting outside the Cochrane RCMP station. Charter said the next stop will be the Cochrane Fire and EMS Station.
“I just wanted no one to be left out— There’s lots of moving it around,” Charter said, explaining his decision to transport the sign around the community. “I thought it would be fun to move it around to the different places.”
His goal is to have the sign thanking essential workers placed outside all continuing care facilities and grocery stores in Town to ensure everyone gets a proper thank you for their hard work during the pandemic.
Charter said he also plans on moving the sign to Highway One to give truckers coming into town a giant sign of gratitude for keeping the supply chain intact during the pandemic.
Charter said the original plan was to place the sign at the intersection of Quigley Drive and the 22 Highway to ensure that when people come to the stop light they have time to see it.
The thank you card will now arrive there as its final destination of travel, Charter said, and he will be placing little signs listening all of the different kinds of front-line workers in town who have been working tirelessly during the COVID-19 pandemic to help keep the Cochrane community healthy.
Charter's handcrafted thank you card is already touching the hearts of first responders in the community. Charter said at one point while moving the sign he had the opportunity to chat with a nurse at a continuing care facility who told how much it meant to those working during the pandemic.
“It’s really resonating with people much more so than I ever imagined,” Charter said, explaining that he hopes the sign serves as an inspiration for others to show their gratitude for the heroic effort essential workers are making to keep the community safe.
“A lot of these put their lives on the line every day for us but we maybe run the danger after a while of taking them for granted,” Charter said. “I never want that to be the case with me.”
