Dairy Christmas cards connect families across countries

Progressive Dairyman Editor Karen Lee

A few years ago, Tom Wall with Language Links, LLC, spent the holiday season in Mexico visiting with the families of U.S. dairy employees. Having worked with those employees back in the States, it was very apparent to him that if granted their Christmas wish, they would all like to be together for the holidays.

Wall developed a program that would reunite the employee with their family, not in person, but through the sending of a Christmas card.

The employees do not send the cards. Instead, their employers send the cards to acknowledge whom the employees have left behind in order to work for them.

“It’s a great little gesture from the dairyman to the families, recognizing they appreciate the sacrifice everyone makes,” Wall says.

Interested dairy producers contact Wall about participating in the program. He asks the producers to take pictures of their employees in their respected workstations – milking cows, moving cows, mixing feed, etc. A second picture is taken of the dairy producer with the employee.

Wall then assembles them into holiday greeting cards. The pictures are displayed inside along with a note stating how much the hard work of the selected employee is appreciated and wishing them a Merry Christmas from our family to yours. The cards are sent to parents, grandparents or wives and children living in their home country.

In its initial year, Wall hand- delivered the cards and small gifts to the families in Mexico. He received so many sincere thank-yous from both the workers and their family members that he knew it was a program that needed to continue.

“It’s a neat little surprise from their loved ones,” Wall says.

Today it’s all done through the mail and therefore Wall has a December 1 deadline in order to create each card, have them sent and then received by the families in time for Christmas.

The cost per card is $20. That includes the writing, photo insertion, the card itself, postage and time it takes to assemble and mail. Plus, Wall makes sure that the right employee is matched to right family, as some dairies have multiple employees with similar names.

Last year Wall sent about 25 to 30 cards and this year he is anticipating an increase to 35 to 40.

The producers that gravitate towards this program are those who already recognize the importance of connecting with their employees. “It’s one more way to show them that they do care,” Wall says.

Dairy producer Darin Strauss of Majestic Meadows Dairy LLC in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, will be sending Christmas cards for a second year in a row this year.

“It’s a very good way to interact with our employees beyond a paycheck,” Strauss says. “It shows their families we are taking care of their son or daughter and that we care about who they are and what they do.”

Strauss recalled how much the employees last year appreciated it, so at a recent employee meeting he asked if they should do it again this year and received a positive response. He’s already contacted Wall to order cards for his seven Hispanic employees.

“Most employees don’t go back home and their parents don’t come here,” Strauss says. “The Christmas cards are a small glimpse at what their sons and daughters are doing.” PD