With so many seniors like her grandmother confined to care homes during the pandemic, Sonja Olsen, manager of the at 200th Street and 40th Avenue, thought it would be nice to have people send cards to seniors to show support over the holidays.

鈥淭he idea came about when we were discussing our holiday period planning.,鈥� Olsen recalled.

鈥淭here was talk about adopting a senior, and my grandma actually lives in an assisted-living home in Burnaby and I just thought, 鈥榃ell what if I just wanted to adopt my own grandma?鈥欌��

As it turned out, a lot of other people thought it was a great idea, too.

READ MORE:

As a result, seniors at several care homes will getting a pleasant surprise this holiday season in the form of holiday messages on cards 鈥� many, many cards.

鈥淭his is so important to me because my grandma is such an inspiration to me and knowing this Christmas season there鈥檚 a chance that a) I might not see her, and b) that she has to spend an incredible amount of time alone breaks my heart,鈥� Olsen said.

鈥淪o to me, this started as something small, thinking, how can I give back to my family? But now it鈥檚 all these other families who want to contribute too.鈥�

On the first day, Wednesday, Nov. 25, Sonja set out 60 blank cards in the store with a sign by the front door that said 鈥淲rite a holiday message to a senior and we鈥檒l drop them off.鈥�

鈥淚t was going to be something that was really small because I didn鈥檛 think this was going to gain this much traction,鈥� Olsen said.

鈥淏ut on the second day, I kept having to restock the cards. Then, all of a sudden, last week sometime, I got three separate phone calls. Two were from two elementary school teachers in the area who said they were in such awe of what we were doing. Now they鈥檙e going to get their students to do some artwork and also draw some handmade cards.鈥�

There are heartfelt message in the cards that pack a whallop, Olsen discovered.

鈥淚鈥檝e read through so many of them and some will actually bring you to tears,鈥� she described.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a tremendous amount of 鈥榊ou are not alone.鈥� And there are so many people who have left their phone numbers for seniors so they have someone to talk to. 鈥業f you鈥檙e lonely call me. I want to hear about your life.鈥欌��

READ ALSO: More pandemic protection needed for B.C. seniors as second COVID-19 wave hits: report

Now store partners have decided that they also want to start collecting gifts for seniors. Starting next week (Monday, Dec. 7), the store will have a drop-off box for anyone who wants to drop off a gift for a senior.

The store has also started collecting food for the food bank.

READ ALSO: 91原创 seniors鈥� centre cooks up program to feed struggling seniors

鈥淚鈥檓 at the point where I鈥檓 collecting so much holiday joy that I鈥檓 just trying to figure out how to spread it,鈥� a delighted Olsen said.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 have a plan yet.鈥�

dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter