SARAH'S STORY

The Hague family had been making donations yearly to help spread Christmas cheer, but in 2020 she wanted to do something a little different.

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“Usually we do something for kids, like a toy drive, but when COVID hit I felt like seniors had been more impacted than anybody else, I really wanted to do something special for them.”

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Sarah went looking for a local organization dedicated to gifting to seniors for the holiday season, but was surprised to learn such a program did not currently exist in Haldimand. She then reached out to RVilla Caledonia Retirement Living and learned that there were 40 residents in the home who would likely not be receiving anything that year: "I knew that year was already hard enough. They weren’t going to get to spend it with their families and they had been stuck inside for nine months, so when I found out that they were in need, I was excited to change that."

The concept had already been floating on social media and Hague took it on, with the goal being donating 40 gift bags to RVilla Caledonia Retirement Living, filling each resident’s Christmas wish list. 

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In a two-week period, more than 400 bags of gifts and gift cards were collected, wrapped and distributed to various residential homes and long-term care facilities, in a grassroots “Santa for a Senior'' project.  "I grossly underestimated the power of our community to do something amazing!"

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Since then the Santa to a Senior group has grown to over 500 members with many of them donating multiple gifts.  Some members help with driving and collecting, and some with delivery.  It is a huge job and we couldn't do it without all of you!

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