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8th Senior’s Santa Christmas Hamper Program

December 7, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Avery Park

A challenge has been given to the residents of Orangeville, and all of Dufferin County, to help a senior feel special this Christmas.

Senior’s Santa Christmas Hampers Program has been running for eight seasons, and continues to put a smile on every seniors face each and every Christmas. Starting very small, and growing into an amazing program, this is a wonderful way to remind the seniors in our community that we do think about them, and we do care about them.

“It started with a dream,” says Tracy Haworth, founder of this program. “That’s not a line I’m feeding everybody. I woke up in the middle of the night, eight years ago, just thinking, ‘What about the seniors?’ ” She wants to make sure that every senior, no matter who or what they have in their life, gets something for Christmas.

Their Stuff a Stocking for a Senior initiative started last year and has been very successful. Last year they were able to meet their goal of giving every senior a stocking, and this year they need over 650 to give to all the seniors at the centers/homes/facilities/senior services that they give to. This includes Bethsaida Retirement Home, Avalon Care Centre, Dufferin Community Living, Dufferin Oaks and Shelburne Residence.

If you would like to help Ms. Haworth in her mission to give a stocking to every senior, there are four places in Orangeville that you can go to and make donations to stuff a stocking. There is the main location, 158 Parkview Drive, an elf house at 114 Ontario Street, and Parsons Florist and Trip Central are also helping them. You can donate anything from sweets and treats to large print word searches. Anything that you would put in your families stocking, you can put it in their stockings. They’re no different from us, and you get to act as their Santa Claus.

If you do stuff a stocking, challenge someone else to do the same. That is how their goal is reached, one person after another goes to help our seniors. Ms. Haworth says, “I refuse to have a senior forgotten,” and year after year, no senior will be forgotten in the Dufferin area.

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