About three years ago Ashley Armstrong wanted to find a way to help others, so she started Christmas Spirit for Seniors in Moose Jaw.
The program allows the public to purchase a gift for a senior in Moose Jaw who otherwise wouldn’t be receiving a gift this Christmas.
She came up with the idea after reminiscing about visiting her grandma and great grandfather in care homes and how many of the residents spent Christmas sitting in their rooms all alone.
“A few years ago I had a successful career change. We had a little extra and I thought what can I do to help people? I thought about the seniors and just a gift on Christmas Eve just to know someone is thinking about them,” Armstrong said.
The program is run by Armstrong and a couple of volunteers that starting organizing in July. They began collecting names from mid-October to the end of November.
Gift tags were put up on a Christmas tree at Sahara Spa with a location code, a first name and what that person would like for Christmas. People can sign out a tag, and buy the gift for the senior.
“We ask everyone to try and bump it up to $20 with extra things like candies, a blanket, warm slippers, things like that,” Armstrong said.
This year has been one of the most successful years. Last year, 43 tags were signed out and gifts given to seniors. This year, Armstrong made 97 tags and only a handful remain.
“I decided it was cutoff because I had 97 tags and I was a little nervous about not everybody getting a gift, so next year — if this year goes great — we’ll try and double the number again,” she said.
Once the gifts are bought, they can be brought in on Dec. 19 to Sahara Spa or to Cask 82 at 5 p.m. for a gift wrapping party.
“We always need help in the end. On the days we are getting ready to deliver, I mean there are 97 gifts. I have to organize everything into the locations where they are going, go through my checklist, make sure every single gift that was requested is here,” Armstrong said.
The gifts will be delivered to five senior homes in Moose Jaw on Christmas Eve, up from three homes last year.
The program is also open to individual nominations as well. Although there haven’t been many, Armstrong hopes to see more nominations next year.
Information on how to great involved with Christmas Spirit for Seniors is available at Sahara Spa or their Facebook page.
