COCHRANE— The Annual Seniors Christmas Wishlist Program, a grassroots non-profit, expanded into Cochrane for the first time ever this year and has seen an overwhelming response from the public.
In its first year, the program supplied gifts for roughly 50 seniors, and now in its fourth year, the Seniors Christmas Wishlist Program is traveling around Alberta, handing out gifts to more than 1,200 seniors, with almost 400 in Cochrane.
Cheryl DeMaere-Ellis, the southern representative of the program, said she has been overwhelmed by the response.
“I never thought the people of Cochrane would be as generous as they have been,” she said. “It’s all about the people of Cochrane right now because they have made this happen.”
The program uses social media to connect with individuals in the communities in which they operate who will supply the gifts for the program.
Cochrane Toyota and the Cochrane Public Library both generously offered to be drop-off points for the packaged for the Seniors Wishlist Program.
The project’s organizers have already delivered 108 gifts to the Bethany Care Society in Cochrane, and plans to distribute 101 packages to West Point Living, 77 to Big Hill Lodge, and roughly 20 gifts to Grande Avenue Village.
Any extra gifts are donated to churches, or the Cochrane and Area Hospice Society, to be given to independent seniors.
The founder of the program, Lisa Fibke, started it four years ago after the passing of her father.
Pre COVID-19, Fibke would take her mother to senior’s facilities to visit friends and saw that many of the seniors, especially around Christmas time, needed some extra support.
She began to reach out to the community to see if people would be interested in showing the senior population a little love, and the program took off from there.
“It’s really taken off this year like wildfire,” DeMaere-Ellis said.
She noted that the program has sent Christmas cards to England and has seen interest from facilities as far away as Victoria, B.C.
The organizers plan to go country-wide with the project next year, she said.
The support from the community, DeMaere-Ellis said, moved her and Fibke to tears.
“It’s the most overwhelming, joyful, emotional, beautiful feeling in your heart that you can possibly imagine,” DeMaere-Ellis. “I looked at Lisa, we were in the hotel room, and we both had tears running down our face and I just said ‘wow this is beautiful.’”
She said that she and the rest of the organization are grateful for the support of each community that they operate in.
“We are nothing—This non-profit organization is nothing without the people from each community.”
The organization is still looking for sponsors for Seniors in Grande Avenue Village. To get involved check out the Annual Seniors Wishlist Program on Facebook.
