When it comes to giving gifts, it's the thought that counts, and a perfect example of that is this year's Seniors Week in Airdrie.

Usually, the week, which runs June 7-13, includes a large community gathering where seniors get together to be recognized and honoured by the community for their years of tireless work in Airdrie and for their ongoing commitment to the community. 

Even though health restrictions are starting to ease in the province, they're still not easing enough to allow for such an event to take place.

Community Links, one of the Airdrie organizations working with seniors, felt it was still necessary to give seniors their due during the week, and especially to let them know they are loved and are being thought of after 15 months of isolation caused by COVID-19.  

In order to do that, Community Engagement Manager with Community Links Laurie Jacob-Toews said they decided to get creative in order to honour and recognize seniors.

"We reached out to some of our community partners and we're doing some nice little treat bags for our seniors.  We got a lot of donations so we had a lot of cards and cute messages from a lot of our daycares and day homes in the city so we'll be giving those to our seniors. We've made up some bookmarks with some positive quotes on them so we've made up some goodie bags that we've going to put together for the seniors."

Jacob-Toews explained the bags will be assembled over the next couple of days and then volunteers and Community Links staff will distribute them later this week. 

She said they'll be taken to the homes of some of the seniors they work with while others will be going to seniors living in care homes and other facilities.

Because of the uncertainty around health restrictions, the group was unsure whether any group activities would be allowed so they came up with the idea for the bags as a good resort.  Jacob-Toews said they thought it was important to let seniors know just how much they mean to the community of Airdrie.

"We thought sharing some positive messages from some of the local children in the community and, just letting people know that we're thinking of them is kind of the message, right?  Letting them know that we're here, we're thinking of them and they're anxious to re-engage with the community as much as we all are and, once it's safe to do so we're looking forward to having them back out and engaging with us.  Hopefully, next year, we're going to have a big event again."  

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