Residents of the Golden Age Towers were the recipients of some care packages from the Rotary Club of Nipissing over the weekend.
110 “comfort packages”, which included hand sanitizer, masks, soap, books and sweet treats were delivered to the elderly residents on Saturday.
Michelle Deveau-Brock, the Rotary member who helped lead the initiative, says the club wanted to provide a sense of community to those who may be feeling isolated by the pandemic.
“We know to attend to loneliness, being a part of a community is really important. One of the things we’ve lost because of COVID was the connections to the community,” she said.
The Rotary Club worked with the District of Nipissing Housing Corporation and the retirement residence’s tenant board to come up with items to include in the packages. From there, local schools, businesses and groups were included together to provide the supplies.
This included books donated from Allison the Bookman, donuts from Good Glaze and artwork done by the students of St. Hubert Catholic Elementary School.
“Anyone we asked or reached out to said ‘of course, how can we help?’…it really demonstrates how beautiful of a community we’ve had,” Deveaux-Brock said.
Kevin Smith, President of the Rotary Club, says activities like the comfort packages are an example of the membership’s creativity as the pandemic has “sapped” fundraising abilities.
“It has been an incredibly challenging year,” he said. “We’ve desperately been looking for things where we can still stay relevant in our community as a service club.”
Following Saturday’s contactless delivery of the packages, Smith says he received an email on behalf of the tenants citing how appreciative they were.
“That’s what this is about,” Smith said. “This is why you join a club. You want to make a difference.”
