The Christmas season is brighter for 240 residents and retired Sisters at Youville Home, thanks to the kindness of some very generous strangers.
For the second year in a row, the London Drugs Santa for Seniors holiday donation drive collected personalized gifts for local seniors. This year the program expanded to include the greater Edmonton area with 3,600 gifts being donated.
We caught up with dozens of volunteer elves and Santa on delivery day at Youville Home in St. Albert.
Although Sister Mary Frushtuk’s smile shows how much she appreciates the gift she received, she wants to express her gratitude to everyone who made it possible for all the residents at Youville Home to receive gifts. Sr. Mary is one of several Sisters of Charity of Montreal (Grey Nuns) who are retired and live at Youville Home.
Nine-year-old Jordan Keast helps Youville resident Margaret Hawick open her Santa for Seniors gift. Margaret ticked three items on her wish list—a blanket, slippers and chocolate—and couldn’t believe someone would be so generous that they would buy her all three.
Brother Louis Gendre reads the handwritten note in his gift from his Secret Santa Nicole. Brother Louis received socks, sugar-free candy and several National Geographic magazines that he went through one by one as he opened his gift.
Youville resident John McGovern receives a bag full of gifts from elves Jordan Keast and Emily Baumbach. Emily and Jordan laid each gift on the end of John’s bed so he could see them all. John decided to save them for opening Christmas morning.
In addition to the donors and London Drugs volunteers, special thanks to the caring and dedicated staff at Youville Home and the Covenant Foundation who co-ordinated the efforts for Youville residents.
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