SEQUIM — Cindy Smith expanded the Christmas-card concept this year, and built an extra-large thank-you note for a particular group of Sequim residents.

With help from scores of like-minded neighbors, Smith finished this greeting well before Christmas. But she wants it to keep circulating, traveling to wherever veterans will see it.

Smith’s creation, a three-panel cardboard placard, measures about 3 feet by 4 feet — and now bears 500 signatures, according to its guardian, Dean Geddes of Sequim.

Once the card was filled with messages — such as “Thank you for blessing this community and country with your service and your love for the USA” — Geddes brought the card to the Veterans of Foreign Wars post at 169 E. Washington St. in downtown Sequim.

It’ll stay there a while, but then Geddes and Smith think it might be nice to transfer it to another location or two, perhaps a community center or other place where people can reflect on it. Geddes said anyone interested in displaying the card can phone him at 360-460-7179.

Outpouring of thanks

The outpouring of thanks “is unreal,” said Geddes, an 88-year-old real estate agent and World War II veteran.

Smith, wanting to deflect attention away from herself, said the card is just a homemade thing, “done with a lot of heart.”

“It’s my best Christmas present,” she added. “I didn’t realize the response I was going to get.”

Smith has been an escrow assistant and public relations coordinator at Clallam Title Co. for the past 16 years. She knows a lot of people around town, so she used some of her days off after Thanksgiving to fill the card with signatures.

She took it to real estate companies, shops, the Sequim Senior Activity Center and other offices, and invited people to write a message or just sign their names.

Smith said she, Geddes and several who signed the card were moved by the messages of gratitude.

“There was a lot of blubbering,” she joked.

Seriously, though, Smith affixed a short letter to the cardboard to introduce the project to its recipients.

“We hope this card will touch your hearts as much as your service has touched ours,” she writes.

“Everyone who signed this card was anxious to express their gratitude for the sacrifices you have made on our behalf. These heartfelt thoughts come with many smiles, and also tears.”

During Christmas seasons past, Smith has sent many other cards, to military service members overseas through the American Red Cross’ Holiday Mail for Heroes effort.

That gave her the idea for a combination Christmas and thank-you card addressed to local heroes.

“This was even more rewarding,” Smith said, since it connected the people of her home town.

With Christmas over and Veterans Day a good 11 months away, Smith hopes local residents will continue reaching out to the vets in their midst.

“I would just encourage people: If you ever see someone you know is a veteran, just say thanks. It means a lot,” she said, adding that through 2010, she’ll make that effort to keep expressing her own gratitude.

And yes, Smith plans to make another card — or two or three — for her heroes again next Christmas.

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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.