Gifts from home during the holiday season mean a lot to troops stationed far away.

And when they are from anonymous donors for those servicemen and women who do not have family support, it takes on an even greater meaning.

Those are just a couple of reasons why the Under the Tree collection is taking place for a second year.

Organized by Judith Watt, South Deltans can donate their gifts to Canadian troops in Afghanistan until Dec. 15 by dropping them off at the South Delta Leader office (#7-1363 56th Street) in the Windsor Woods complex adjacent to the Tsawwassen Starbucks and Ladner United Church (4960 48th Ave.).

This year to meet the deadline and ease delivery of the gifts, donations for the troops will be limited to Tim Hortons gift cards—from a minimum $2 to a maximum of $25— that can be used at the Tim Hortons location right on the base in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

One person who knows well the impact of a gift from home, especially from Tim Hortons, is Ladner United Church Rev. Jim Short. He served a seven and a half month tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2008 as a chaplain and saw first-hand the important role the iconic coffee shop played at the base at Kandahar Airfield (KAF).

“Tim Hortons is hugely important on the base,” Short says. “For example, it’s a place where you go to meet your buddies and a place where troops who have a day or two after being outside the wire spend time.”

To say the least, it’s a popular spot that brings a little bit of home to those far away.

“It wasn’t uncommon to have a lineup of 50 people trying to get in,” Short says. “And you’d wait 45 minutes to get a cup of Tim’s.”

Short said the coffee and doughnut shop also served as a good place for him to have a quiet conversation with those who had sought him out.

“What I noticed was that there will always be people who when they want to talk to the chaplain will come to the office. But there was a whole bunch of people for whom I’d see in camp and could tell they wanted to talk, I’d tell them, ‘Hey, I’ve got some certificates from Tim’s, let’s go have a coffee. It makes it easier for people to talk.”

And just like coffee shops around the country are places where people can convene and casually chat, the Tim Hortons at Kandahar Airfield fills that same role.

“I don’t want to sound overly romantic about it, but I think a lot of healing happens there—listening, talking and hearing,” Short says. “So, you never know what a gift card given to a soldier in the long run will do—whether it will remind them of home, give them a bit of comfort, or just give them an excuse to sit with their buddies.”

Short said every day during his stay he would make a point of going to the coffee shop.

“I was never alone,” he says. “By time I left Tim Hortons there would have been nine or 10 conversations with people.”

n editor@southdeltaleader.com