A Chatham-based business that went out of its way to make the holidays a little brighter for thousands of local seniors over the holidays is planning to repeat the performance later this year.
Just a few weeks before Christmas, Teksavvy launched "Santa for Seniors", an initiative to collect Christmas cards and gifts that volunteers would then deliver to retirement and long-term care homes, and seniors stuck at home due to the pandemic.
"We collected about 5,278 greeting cards. A lot were created by the little ones in the schools, which were amazing," said Dava Robichaud, Administrative and Event Coordinator and Community Partner at Teksavvy. "And then we distributed 832 gift boxes."
Robichaud added that the gift boxes were filled with items donated by local residents.
"Coffee mugs, hot chocolates, teas, blankets, slippers, toiletries, snacks, cookies, chocolates, mints," said Robichaud. "And some of them were so overfilled we had to make two of three gifts out of the stuff that was in there."
Volunteers sanitized the items before they were wrapped, and delivered them the week of December 21, 2020. Robichaud said the volunteers were overwhelmed by the response they received from the recipients.
"One of the people who delivered, when he pulled in, there was a couple of people in the window, he figured it was the common room," said Robichaud. "By the time he was finished delivering, the window was full of residents, and they were all smiling and waving."
Robichaud said they are already planning to make this an annual event.
"The plan is to launch it November 1st, around the first part of November anyway. It was wonderful, so much feedback from the nursing homes," she said. "We're still getting thank-you cards from the residents."