SASKATOON -- Members of the Canadian Armed Forces serving overseas this Christmas will be getting a surprise in the next couple weeks thanks to some Saskatoon students.

The Grade 7 class at St. Nicholas Elementary School decorated Christmas cards and wrote messages for members who won’t be home for the holidays.

One of those students, Noah Sharp, has a special connection to the project – his father is training police officers in Iraq.

He made a card for his dad and one for another Canadian forces member he doesn’t know.

“I just wrote ‘thank you for your service.’ It's great that other people make sacrifices not seeing their family for months and they make our world a better place so I wrote some of that stuff in there.”

Teacher Tim Kroeker came across the project recently and decided it would fit his class perfectly.

“Servant leadership is a big thing in our Catholic schools so we thought this would be a really good thing to make a difference, especially over the holidays.”

Cards and letters will be sent off Monday so they make it overseas by Christmas, Canadian Armed Forces says.

Canadians are encouraged to write letters to those serving all year round.