It was a show of big hearts at BC Care Providers as staff members volunteered time to wrap presents for seniors. The following story on CBC News (original source) showcases the event.
More than 300 gifts were gathered after seniors in care facilities wrote wish lists
About a dozen volunteers gathered to organize and wrap hundreds of gifts for seniors in Vancouver and Burnaby on Friday.
The annual gift drive for seniors living in care facilities is organized by the company, Home Instead Senior Care. It’s a North America-wide program, but just locally, about 300 gifts were packaged and prepared for delivery.
“It feels great, you know We can forget about our seniors over the course of the year and  it’s, you know, they can be really lonely. People don’t realize how it is for seniors,” said Lindsey Fancy, owner of Home Instead.
Seniors filled out short wish lists and put them on Christmas tree ornaments in local stores. People could select a wish list and provide the items requested, unwrapped.
“We had a school, Laura Secord Elementary school, their kindergarten class actually did crafts and they sold the crafts to raise money to purchase gifts for seniors for us as well,” said Fancy.
Cathy Szmaus, with the non-profit industry group, B.C. Care Providers Association brought several members of her staff to help organize and wrap the gifts in bags.
“It’s amazing. I cannot believe the amount of presents and the time people took to put together these really thoughtful packages,” she said.
Staff from the B.C. Care Providers Association wrap gifts for seniors during an anual Christmas gift drive. (Rafferty Baker/CBC)
“This morning when we came there were just mounds and mounds of bags and all these generous donations, and so it took a whole bunch of organization to get everything in packages, labeled and off to the right destination.”
Szmaus said some of the most commonly requested items were lap blankets and picture frames, but there were also a lot of socks, bottles of cologne, sweaters and chocolates.
“They just want things that are comfortable and warm and to bring them comfort, I guess and joy during the holiday season,” said Szmaus.
Fancy noted that people took 73 of the ornament wish lists from Christmas trees but didn’t provide the requested gifts, so there is a shortfall she’s still hoping to fill.
