The Lloydminster and District Co-op is hoping to give seniors a Merry Christmas.
The store has launched a campaign called Spread a Little Love This Christmas, where shoppers at the Lloydminster Marketplace and the Neilburg store can pick an ornament off of a Christmas tree which has a gift a senior has written on it that the shopper can buy to be given to that senior.
Don Stephenson, Co-op CEO, says the desires of the seniors are simple.
“It’s one of the most emotional things, reading the list of requests you get from our seniors that are in the care facilities,” Stephenson said. “As we’re going through the list, it’s a small jar of hand cream, it’s a pair of mittens, it’s a pair of wool socks. There are certainly no desires for Xboxes or new iPhone 6s, which is what we’d expect from our senior group. They are the people that built this community, and allowed us to have what we have today.”
Carol Freeman, facility manager at the Dr. Cooke Extended Care Centre says she’s grateful for the Co-op’s gesture.
“This was a special initiative that was brought to us by the Co-op early in July to say ‘let us help you’, and a ‘thank you’ back to our seniors, who built this community,” Freeman said. “We’ve got residents in our facility who come down here on a regular basis for coffee, and purchase things, and they still have 3-digit Co-op numbers, so they’ve been in the system a long time. It’s wonderful that an organization like this is prepared to give back to our seniors in our community.
Stephenson also says the Co-op is hoping to have 550 gifts for seniors in the area. Seniors’ homes supported by the campaign include the Dr. Cooke Extended Care Centre, Dr. Hemstock, Hearthstone Place, Jubilee Home, Lloydminster Continuing Care Centre, Manitou Housing in Neilburg, Southview Manor in Marsden, Paradise Hill Care Home, Pine Island Lodge in Maidstone, Pioneer Lodge, Points West Living, and Tigdhuin Home in Lashburn.
The campaign will run until December 4th, and the gifts will be delivered to seniors’ homes before Christmas Day.