Twenty-five local seniors spending their holidays in isolation will have a box of gifts to open on Christmas morning, thanks to the efforts of the Nose Creek Swim Association (NCSA).
NCSA team manager and coach Robin Loyola said the Airdrie-based swim club took part in the Seniors Secret Service Christmas Cheer program this year – a program that matches up Secret Santas with those living in senior care homes and independent living facilities, as well as seniors spending the holidays in the hospital.
"People sign up, they get a profile and they don’t know anything about the senior other than their first name, gender, their age and a few of their wants,” Loyola said.
According to seniorssecretservice.com, the program distributed gift boxes to more than 5,000 seniors in Calgary and the surrounding area this year.
Loyola said she and her husband participated in the program last year. Having enjoyed the experience, she said they thought it would be an ideal fit for NCSA’s Give-Back initiative.
As part of NCSA’s 25th anniversary, members of the club have been supporting the community in various ways throughout 2020. Good Samaritan deeds included neighbourhood clean-ups and a senior pen-pal program with residents at Bethany Airdrie. Prior to the pandemic, club members visited senior living facilities and read aloud to children at the Airdrie Public Library.
Loyola said the club's support of Seniors Secret Service Christmas Cheer was "overwhelming."
“We thought, it’s our 25th year, so let’s sponsor 25 seniors,” she said. “This year, because of COVID, they had all the gifts go into one box, and the boxes were overflowing with gift cards and homemade items. The kids made art and decorated the boxes. It was a fantastic experience.”
NCSA was one of many local sports groups impacted by the Alberta government’s Nov. 12 announcement that teams sports would be temporarily halted to help stem the ongoing spike of COVID-19 cases in the province. Loyola said the club’s members were disappointed to be shut down, claiming there haven’t been any documented cases of the virus originating from a swim club in Canada.
“Currently, within Swim Canada, I think we’ve had something like 200,000 workouts and, to date, there have been zero COVID transmissions or breakouts,” she said. “Part of that is the atmosphere we’re in – because the air is so warm and humid [at pools], your breath doesn’t go very far, and then it falls to a sanitized area. Chlorinated water has been proven to be an effective disinfectant for COVID.”
She said participating in a program like Seniors Secret Service Christmas Cheer is a way for the club’s swimmers to stay connected to each other this holiday season.
For more information on the program, visit seniorssecretservice.com
Scott Strasser, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @scottstrasser19
