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Feelings of loneliness and isolation rise among seniors at Christmas and even more so this year as we mark the second holiday season amid a global pandemic. But a group of friends in Mississauga is bringing holiday cheer to long term care residents right across Canada.

 

Kaitlyn Liang co-founded the non-profit Sending Sunshine and says the focus now is all about Christmas.

“We’ve been asking the community to send us cards and letters and they send them to our PO Box, and we’ve enlisted a lot of high school students due to a volunteer program.”

Kaitlyn and friends realized that while their lives were impacted by COVID-19, seniors were hit especially hard. So the group hatched a plan to connect with over 250 long term care homes through handwritten letters and cards.

Co-founder Marissa Parker says response to this heartwarming gesture has been overwhelming.

“We’ve received over 77,000 cards from around the world and over 7,000 students have signed up to be volunteer card writers so the response has been fantastic and we’re all just really, really thankful,” said Parker.

She says even post pandemic, there will always be a need for sending sunshine.

“To create that connection with people living within these facilities so we have plans to keep expanding and partner with even more facilities.”

If you’d like to drop off a personalized Christmas card or note, visit their booth Saturday, December 18th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Port Credit arena in Mississauga.

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