SANTAS FOR PETERBOROUGH SENIORS
Contributed by: Jay Lough Hayes, Sales Representative Re/Max Rouge River Realty Ltd. 705-772-1025
With a career in Real Estate spanning 30 plus years, I feel the need to give back to the
community that gives me so much. I have my own charity that gives me the pleasure of helping seniors - Santas for Peterborough Seniors. Everyone remembers the children at Christmas but what about the child within our seniors? Too many seniors in our community, through no fault of their own, will not have a gift to open this Christmas morning. They never had children of their own, they have out lived their family members, they just never had family or they are not in touch with their family. With this in mind, my Elf, Jean, and I contact as many venues as possible to collect the names of these seniors. As you can imagine, the word gets out. At Christmas 2018, I received a phone call from a member of the Lakefield Lions Club explaining she had got a phone call from a senior in the outlying area. This senior had one Christmas wish - new teeth. She had been without teeth for too many years because she could never save up enough money to purchase them on her own. So she reached out to the Lions Club for help. This Club member told her they didn’t have the funds but she would see what she could do. With skepticism in her voice, she told me what she needed and asked if Santa’s for Peterborough Seniors could Christmas wish just in time for her to enjoy her turhelp. I said I would give it a try. key dinner on Christmas Day. I contacted Paget Denture Clinic and they offered to help if I could provide a certain amount of the cost to have the teeth made. Santas for Peterborough Seniors receives hundreds of gift donations as well as a few dollars but nothing like I needed. So I called community minded people throughout the Peterborough area asking for a cash donation. They generously obliged. I drove the money to the denture clinic and they made the call to the senior lady. She was shocked with the good news! Paget Denture Clinic completed their part of this gals Page 42
The Thank You card we received from her brought tears to our eyes as she explained how much she enjoyed chewing and thoroughly enjoyed her Christmas dinner for the first time in years. There was another senior lady who told me that she is confined to a wheelchair. She explained that without a lot of exercise (she was a larger lady), she was having no luck finding a winter coat in her size. So I contacted Penningtons on Lansdowne St E. and they gave me the phone number for Head
