Members from all six St. Mary’s Hospital Health Care Auxiliaries worked tirelessly last weekend to bring Christmas stockings to the residents of Totem Lodge and Shorncliffe residential care homes.
The stockings were filled with chocolates, cookies, gloves and lip balm plus a few specially requested items for some of the residents.
“Some people have requested books or crossword puzzles or socks,” said auxiliary publicity chair Carole Murray. “A couple of people requested baseball caps. Another fellow requested a fedora … another fellow requested a harmonica. There are a variety of personalized items.”
A total of 120 stockings are filled every year. Most go to the care homes, while others are given to patients at St. Mary’s psych ward. Auxiliary members coordinate with Totem Lodge and Shorncliffe to make sure the folks are getting what they want or need in their stockings.
“They are an incredible bunch of volunteers who basically take care of the residents as much as we do,” said resident care coordinator of Totem Lodge, Wendy Morrison. “They take care of a lot of the extras that we don’t have the funding or ability to provide. It makes [the seniors] lives so much more special, especially at this time of year when they may not have families around.”
Vicky Forest, 2015 president elect, has been volunteering with the auxiliary for the last several years. She said the stocking tradition has been going strong since the turn of the millennium.
It might be a lot of work, but Forest was in good spirits when Coast Reporter chatted with the auxiliary members at the hospital on Monday, Dec. 15.
“We go shopping, so we have a lot of fun, spending somebody else’s money,” she joked.
Funding comes from St. Mary’s Thrift Store in Sechelt, as well as from the hospital gift shop, and through donations from generous Sunshine Coasters.
St. Mary’s six auxiliaries between Pender Harbour and Langdale have more than 500 volunteers who have donated more than 67,000 hours of their time this year.
