NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
Florence Boschee smiles as she looks on at a gift she was given Friday by a group of volunteers with the Santa for Seniors program.
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com @MHNmocranker
Teams of volunteers spent Friday at a number of different seniors’ homes handing out gifts to hundreds of seniors around the city.
The Santa for Seniors – Medicine Hat campaign ran for its third year and had teams handing out gifts to Hatters at nine total residences Friday and Saturday.
“We had another really great year,” said organizer Erin Turcotte. “We’ve had deliveries all morning and we’re going out to another few residences before going to a couple more (Saturday).
“We’ve started working with a few new organizations and businesses this year — we also had a hockey team come out and do a lot of wrapping with us and they’re also helping deliver gifts today.”
Roughly 400 gifts will be handed out by Turcotte’s campaign — all of which were bought by members of the community and donated back to the program.
“The growth has been amazing,” said Turcotte. “It’s been three short years since we started and I did not think it would take off like it has.
“It’s really been special to see how many people have gotten behind Santa for Seniors.”
Turcotte says the support for the campaign continues to grow and helps many seniors in the city have a great Holiday season.
“It’s humbling,” she said. “There’s so many generous people here and it really helps make Christmas special for a lot of people in the city.
“We will keep this going for sure. There’s a need for this.”