The Prince George Council of Seniors is in the home stretch for their Senior Hamper program that sees 165 elders in need getting a little Christmas cheer this year.
Applications were taken at the Seniors Resource Centre at 721 Victoria St. by a raft of appreciated volunteers and assembly took place off site at 145 Brunswick St., the old Citizen press building, because organizers needed more room to take delivery of the bulk food and space to get the hampers together.
Each hamper not only included a traditional Christmas dinner but also other food items to carry the recipients through a few days to ease the pressure of food security that might stretch into the new year.
It took about 30 pairs of volunteer helping hands over the span of a few days to move grocery items off the pallets into the hampers and then another 20 volunteers to deliver each hamper to the seniors in need.
“We’ve been working with the manager of Save-On at Parkwood, Regan Bader, who has been very, very helpful with all this,” Michelle McGregor, executive director at the Prince George Council of Seniors, said.
“He is the one that organized all the food and Bandstra donated their delivery service so we could assemble the hampers,” she said. “We are very grateful for their help.”
Most of the volunteers are new volunteers, McGregor noted.
“For me that says a lot because I am also new (executive director) so we’re all learning together how to do this,” McGregor said. “It’s been a huge learning curve and we’re really rocking it. Everyone seems to be having a great time and it’s been really fun.”
Rose Halsall is newly retired herself and is one of the new volunteers that spent a couple of mornings assembling hampers.
“My focus has been a little bit more on the seniors in our community,” Halsall said. “When you’re actually here and you see all the bags lined up and that’s how many seniors need the help, it’s actually quite surprising.”
Food security is an important issue for Halsall and she often donates food items to those in need.
“It’s about trying to put out something good in the community,” Halsall said about her volunteerism.
The Prince George Citizen provided the building as a safe and accessible space for the Prince George Council of Seniors to use for the storage of the bulk food, the assembly and the distribution for the Seniors Christmas Hamper project.
"We partnered with the Council of Seniors in Christmases past by providing space to prepare and distribute hampers," Citizen publisher Curtis Armstrong said. "It's great to reconnect with them to lend a hand for this valuable service they provide to local seniors at Christmas."
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