Kendra Shot is the organizer of Santas for Seniors Queens County. (Rick Conrad)

The organizer of a local program that helps seniors over the holidays is hoping for a little Christmas magic this year.

Santas for Seniors Queens County connects low-income seniors with others who want to help them have a good holiday. And it relies on Canada Post to help make it happen. 

Organizer Kendra Shot says this year, she’s worried about how the postal strike may affect the festive fundraiser.

“I’m hoping by the end of the week that maybe they come to some terms and settle this strike. I will put them in the mail but there’s no way we can hand deliver because we have mailing addresses for the seniors, and not home addresses.”

This is the fifth year for Santas for Seniors Queens County. Since it began, it’s helped hundreds of Queens County seniors each year.

Anyone can nominate a senior, or seniors can nominate themselves. People tell Shot what they’d like, whether that’s a gift card for groceries, gas or other goods.

All nominees are anonymously posted to the Santas for Seniors Queens County Facebook group. If you want to add any Queens County senior to the list, contact Shot with the person’s full name, age and full mailing address.

“55 and over, low income, need a little extra help this winter. That’s what we’re here for,” Shot says.

“You adopt your senior, buy a holiday card, buy your gift card, there’s one or two usually listed per senior, you don’t have to buy both of them. Put it in your holiday card, seal it, on the back of your card write your number, on the front of the card, place a stamp.”

Completed cards can be dropped off at Exit Realty or Route 3 Cellar Taproom and Grill, both in Liverpool, or at Stew’s Corner Convenience and Gas in Greenfield. 

Shot says she’s seeing more seniors from Greenfield and Caledonia participating this year.

As of Tuesday, 328 seniors are signed up, with 158 adopted so far. Last year, a little more than 300 took part.

Seniors can be nominated until Dec. 1. Shot says all cards need to be dropped off by Dec. 15 so that she can mail them out in time for Christmas.

“Basically 90 per cent of the people that are nominated do not even know that they’re nominated. So, they’re going to get a card in the mail from a complete stranger with a little extra help. There’s no set denomination for amounts. We’re all feeling the crunch of the increased prices it’s more so the thought that counts.”

Shot and her volunteers used to collect gifts from donors and deliver gift bags to as many as 400 seniors. She said they changed it to gift cards during Covid.

They also used to work with local service organizations and other groups to identify seniors in need, but because of confidentiality rules, they had to stop doing that.

Despite that, more than 1,200 Queens County seniors have been adopted in the past five years. 

“It makes me feel good because No. 1, to give back is the best feeling at Christmas for me. Gifts aren’t Christmas, it’s how you actually make somebody feel.”

This year, Shot says she’d also like to get more businesses involved in the fundraiser. The managers at White Point Beach Resort got together and adopted 12 seniors.

If you want to be nominated or if you want to nominate somebody else, message Kendra Shot on Facebook, or call her at 902-646-0265 or email her at kendra_shot@hotmail.com.

And if you want to “adopt” a senior, check out the Santas for Seniors Queens County Facebook group.

“We’ll get them all adopted, we do every year, and put some smiles on seniors’ faces.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Dr. Robert Strang. Photo Communications Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia’s top doctor says COVID restrictions announced last week are not enough as the province imposes harsher restrictions ahead of the holidays.

New measures set to go into effect Wednesday morning include reducing gatherings to 10 people, limits on in-person faith services and restricting singing to one person, businesses reduced to 50 percent capacity, licensed establishments must stop service at 11:00pm and close by midnight and long-term care facilities limiting visitors to two.

Dr. Robert Strang recognizes the impact these new restrictions will have during the holidays.

“What we are asking you to do now is probably the most difficult request we have made yet. This is a long two years and there’s a lot of disappointment about having to do this yet again in the holiday season. But that is our reality, and we have to deal with it,” said Strang.

A link to the full release and all the new restrictions can be found here.

With 83 percent of samples sent to the national testing lab coming back positive for omicron, Strang says the variant has become dominant strain of COVID in Nova Scotia.

The aggressive nature of omicron has impacted workers across all fields, including the medical profession, leading to staff shortages as employees self-isolate to prevent further spread.

Strang says Nova Scotians need to slow down and reduce their contacts.

“If we continue to have an ongoing high case numbers and building hospitalization rates, we reach a point where our healthcare system become very, very challenged from two perspectives: higher numbers of people requiring medical care in hospitals and worsening of an already existing challenges around getting the number of healthcare workers we need,’ said Strang.

He ended his prepared statement with a personal message to Nova Scotians.

“I want to end today speaking you from my heart. This is a worrisome sad and frustrating time. As your chief medical officer of health, I feel immense pressure to make the right decisions to protect Nova Scotians and to find the best balance to minimize harm from COVID and COVID control measures. I’m not gonna get it right every time and in retrospect, perhaps we did not get things quite right last week,” said Strang. “Things are changing fast with this new variant and there is limited information but please know that my recommendations and decisions always have the best interests of all Nova Scotians in mind.”

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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