PORT HAWKESBURY - As she nears the end of a year spent championing LGBTQI rights and producing a new documentary about autism experiences in Nova Scotia, Taylor Linloff is seeking public support for a new campaign involving a long-running holiday tradition. 

Linloff launched the "Caremas Card Challenge" earlier in December, encouraging local residents to write encouraging messages in Christmas cards to people who might not always feel loved or supported at this time of year. These include health-care workers and others deemed essential in the COVID-19 era, coffee-shop and fast-food employees, senior citizens in long-term care complexes, and even municipal and provincial politicians. 

The Port Hawkesbury resident has already received enthusiastic responses from people across Canada for her efforts, and the hashtag #CaremasCardChallenge has picked up steam and sparked similar challenges in regions as diverse as Ontario and British Columbia. 

Inspired by Linloff's late father Conrad, who succumbed to cancer this past January, she originally planned to send 300 cards but decided to raise the number to 500 earlier this month. However, she stressed that participants in the "Caremas" challenge have the right to choose how many cards they send this Christmas or any other Christmas.