Area students ensure over 5,000 seniors receive holiday well-wishes this season

While many people have struggled with being unable to see their loved ones over the holidays, those residing in long-term care or retirement homes are feeling the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic more than most.

But the kind gestures and efforts of students at 20 area elementary and high schools have ensured that over 5,000 residents in retirement or long-term care homes have received unique and thoughtful holiday cards during the season.

The handcrafted cards were created through an initiative started by Sarah Cadorette, owner of Plan A Kingston and Quinte, a staffing and strategy solutions company dedicated to the long-term care and retirement sector. The company acts as “the essential back-up plan and last line of defence for their partnered Long-Term Care and Retirement facilities when they are facing staffing shortages,” Cadorette explained.

“The Plan A team of healthcare professionals is called upon when homes have exhausted all of their internal resources,” she said.

Four times annually, Plan A Kingston and Quinte runs a holiday card initiative, partnering with local schools to create and deliver handcrafted holiday cards with a note, drawing, story, or quote inside “to help spread cheer,” to residents receiving care through the company, Cadorette explained of the initiative.

“As the owner of Plan A Kingston and Quinte, a Staffing, Strategy and Technology company based in the Senior Care sector, we are always looking for ways to give back to those living and working in long-term care and retirement homes within our communities,” she expressed.

“In a time where we continue to be isolated and distanced from one another, especially those in the vulnerable sector, it’s a small part that we can play to ensure that residents know they are not alone, and to let them know that, even if we can’t come in and visit or that they won’t have family surrounding them for a second year in a row during the holiday season, they are loved and not forgotten.”

This year’s Christmas holiday card initiative resulted in 5,401 cards being hand made and delivered to seniors living in long-term care or retirement homes. Students participated from the following schools throughout the Kingston, Napanee, Odessa, and Belleville areas:

• Kingston Secondary School
• Regiopolis-Notre Dame Catholic High School
• St. Martha Catholic School
• Bayridge Secondary School
• St. Peter Catholic School
• École Polson Park Public School
• Centennial Public School
• Fairfield Elementary School
• Odessa Public School
• Southview Public School
• Truedell Public School
• Loyalist Collegiate and Vocational Institute (LCVI)
• Mother Teresa Catholic School
• Nicholson Catholic College
• Welborne Avenue Public School
• R.G. Sinclair Public School
• St. Paul Catholic School
• Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School
• Module de l’Acadie
• Holy Name Catholic School

“I am so proud of our team and our community partners who rallied around this initiative in helping us to deliver an astronomical number of holiday cards this year that was beyond our wildest dreams,” Cadorette expressed, thanking all those students and educators who participated for helping to spread holiday cheer to seniors throughout the area.

“We set a goal of 2,100 cards, but because of everyone’s tremendous efforts in keeping the holiday spirit alive, we were able to delivery 5,401 cards to over 22 facilities, meaning that 5,401 more people this holiday season will be reminded that they are not alone.”