Bringing comfort to needy local seniors at Christmas is on the minds of the residents of Newmarket’s Amica throughout the entire year.
The retirement home residents raise funds all year for the Amica Helping Hands Charity so that baskets can be packaged with love, and items such as cosy blankets or shawls, hand-knit scarves, non-perishable food, toiletries, grocery store and pharmacy gift cards.
The baskets are delivered in December to low-income seniors in our community.
The residents and staff hold several fundraising events for the project every year, including a fall farmers market, holiday bazaar, raffles, candy grams on Valentine’s Day and a car/walker wash, said Samatha Edhouse, life enrichment coordinator at Amica Newmarket, who herself raised $5,000 this year for Helping Hands.
About 30 residents volunteered to join the “assembly line” yesterday to pack the baskets — which are actually practical tote boxes this year — taking their turn to add items until they’re filled to the brim.
With the help of Newmarket churches and non-profit agencies, the baskets are delivered to seniors, most who live alone and in poverty, said Edhouse.
More than $3.5 million has been raised by Amica residents, team members and corporate sponsors across the country since the Helping Hands charity was established in 2003, and more than 23,800 baskets have been gifted to financially vulnerable seniors.
Amica Helping Hands also provides funds to not-for-profit organizations across Canada for initiatives that improve the quality of life and health of seniors in need.
