The Santa for Seniors organization is holding a fundraiser campaign to help provide Christmas gifts to residents of long-term care centres, including the Weyburn Special Care Home and Tatagwa View.
No gifts from outside of the homes can be accepted, due to public health guidelines set for the COVID-19 pandemic, so only monetary gifts are being accepted at this time.
鈥淎s I am sure everyone has seen in the media, it has been a very difficult, stressful, and lonely year for seniors. In all the years we have run the program, this might be the most important year to show they are not forgotten and provide them some hope and comfort,鈥� said Sean Louvel , director for Santa for Seniors 麻豆传媒AVern Saskatchewan.
鈥淥ur hope is to raise enough money for the equivalent of the seniors in each home to get at least a small gift bought by staff. Our minimum campaign amount is based on $10 per senior in funds so the homes have the money to coordinate a Merry Christmas for everyone. This is much less than the $30 per senior we normally suggest, so it seems like a reasonable goal,鈥� he said.
The gofundme page for Santa for Seniors was at $10,698 with 205 donors as of Monday morning, and with e-transfers they are over $11,000, so the campaign is moving along.
The group is hoping to run the fundraiser until Dec. 16 at which time they can transfer out the funds and make sure the homes get them well before Christmas. That gives them just over a week of fundraising with a long way to go to reach the goal.
Here is the link to the gofundme fundraising page:
People can also do etransfers if they prefer, and these donations can be sent to [email protected].
Founded in 2010, Santa for Seniors is an outreach program for seniors in many southern Saskatchewan communities. They work with a number of senior care homes in southern Saskatchewan to identify seniors that may not get a gift at Christmas time, possibly because they are underprivileged, or no longer have living family members or family nearby.
The focus is seniors most in need, however their vision is for all of the seniors in each home to get a small gift that they could open and share on Christmas day, like one large family.
They match seniors with their wonderful volunteers to make sure they get a gift. Most requests are for very simple gifts, such as a sweater, socks, body wash or shampoo, or treats. In the less fortunate homes some of them have trouble even affording these basic items, so to them it has been a huge surprise.
The group members are grateful for all of the volunteers that have been involved, growing the program from 16 seniors receiving gifts for Christmas 2010 to 2,300 in 2019.
