A special tree has been decorated outside the Maple Ridge London Drugs, with the wishes of seniors in need.
The Christmas tree is filled with paper tags, and on the back of each is a list of items to help a senior in the community. People are asked to take a tag, purchase the items, and return the unwrapped presents to the customer service desk at the store.
Bev Schmahmann, outreach coordinator with the Ridge Meadows Seniors Society, is hoping to fill 250 gift bags to hand out this year.
“The demand is really high this year,” said Schmahmann, noting many have come to her letting her know that they are worried about how they are going to cope.
Schmahmann said she has noticed that a lot of seniors are at the point where they can only afford very few food items.
“Their rents have gone up, many of them don’t have TV,” she said. “They just don’t have anything for extra.”
Many use the food bank that is run out of the Ridge Meadows Seniors Society activity centre in Maple Ridge.
And, Schmahmann said, she has a long list of people who are on a waiting list for the service.
The Christmas gift bags for the seniors who use the food bank is huge, she said.
This year they added more items to the lists including things like: gift cards, medical supplies, vitamins, personal care items like facial creams, and some luxury items or treats a senior would not normally purchase for themselves.
Store manager Elly Kurucz, said they are happy to work with the community to get gifts to seniors who need them.
The Maple Ridge London Drugs, located in ValleyFair Mall, has been participating in the program for more than a decade, she said.
“It’s giving back to the community,” she said.
Schmahmann is planning to have tags on the Christmas tree until Saturday, Dec. 20, the last day to fill a wish list.
For a lot of seniors too, to get a gift also means to be seen. They are lonely and this may be the only gift they receive this holiday season, added Schmahmann.
“To get a bag at their door from one of our delivery people is a wonderful thing,” she noted.
Some of them even cry.
ValleyFair Mall is located at Lougheed Highway, between 227 and 228 Streets.