A young camper's letter was delivered to her grandmother, despite missing vital address information, thanks to the help of thousands of strangers and a dedicated Canada Post worker.
Canada Post mail carrier Natasha Villeneuve was puzzled when, earlier this month, a colleague showed her an envelope with the following address scrawled on it:
"RR#3
Perth, Ontario
K7H 3C5
To Grandma
From Abby"
Villeneuve told CTV News Channel that a co-worker showed her the letter with the missing address details, and mentioned how disappointed she'd be if she couldn't receive a letter from her granddaughter.
"We receive these letters all the time," Villeneuve said. "I just took a snapshot of the letter said, 'Let's not kill it; let's see what we can find out.'"
So Villeneuve posted the photo of the envelope to Facebook, asking if anyone in Perth might know who was this particular “Grandma.”
"Anyone in Perth know who is a Grandma of an Abby on RR3???" she wrote. "No return address and we'd love to deliver it!!"
The photo quickly made the rounds on social media, and soon messages started flooding in from helpful strangers offering tips. It was a nice surprise, Villeneuve said.
“I expected maybe 20 to 50 people to respond within the limits of Perth, but over the weekend it sort of exploded," she said, adding that she's received messages from across Canada and the U.S. "Now I think it’s up to 16,000 shares on Facebook."
Two days after Villeneuve posted the photo online, she announced that the "grandma" in question had likely been located.
Dawn Kierans is not on Facebook, but she heard about the letter from a paramedic who attended to her home one evening.
"As they were leaving, (the paramedic) happened to say to me, 'Do you know anybody on Rural Road #3, a grandma that has an Abby?'" Kierans told CTV News Channel.
"And I said, 'That's me, I have an Abby.'"
Eventually, the letter was delivered to Kierans by Villeneuve herself.
Kierans was thrilled to receive the letter sent by her 11-year-old granddaughter.
"I owe Tasha a real thank you for delivering it, because I would have been disappointed if Abby asked me when she came back 'Did you get my letter?' and I would have to say 'No,'" she said. "But anyways (the answer) will be 'Yes.'"
Kierans will get the chance to tell her granddaughter herself, when Abby returns from camp this Friday.
