In the spirit of the season, a local Canada Post depot manager wanted to deliver a bit of holiday cheer to Niagara's local rescue workers.

Civil Air Rescue and Emergency Services Niagara received a plaque from Canada Post to commemorate its services in the region on Friday.

Postmaster of the Queenston post office Mena Spadafora presented the plaque to the rescue volunteers at the Niagara District Airport during a special ceremony.

Spadafora attended ceremonies in Niagara Falls to hand out plaques to the Niagara Regional Police, the Niagara Parks Police and the RCMP. She was also in NOTL at the EMS headquarters to hand out a plaque to paramedics, with a final presentation in Queenston on Monday for local firefighters.

The ceremonies come after Canada Post unveiled a series of postage stamps honouring the country’s first responders and rescue workers, something the members of CARES Niagara are very proud of.

“Canada Post wanted to honour all of you. Today my colleague Doug Binning and I wanted to take it one step further,” said Spadafora. “We wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you in person for all that you do.”

“Through their life saving duties, search and rescue experts often find themselves in life threatening situations such as avalanches, extreme weather conditions or high seas,” said Spadafora.

CARES Niagara is responsible for aviation safety in the region, as well as operating air search operations across south-central Ontario in a supporting role to the Canadian Military.

Terry Nord, CARES officer, said the postage stamp and the presentation of the plaque means a lot not only to the Niagara zone but to the whole CASARA organization, and that it is a great honour to be recognized in this way.

“Were all volunteers and to be recognized, not just by our peers but by Canada Post. It means a lot to us and is a great incentive for us and for our training.”

CARES ­­­training officer, Randy Klaassen said that the plaque will be hung on a wall in their training room for everyone to see.