County of Grande Prairie FCSS Adult, Senior and Community Programs Team Lead Coree Ladwig and Town of Wembley FCSS Director Pam Decker (Photo Credit: Grande Prairie Seniors Outreach)

By Shane Clausing

seniors week

Grande Prairie Seniors Outreach giving back during seniors week

Jun 4, 2020 | 1:14 PM

This week across the country, seniors in our communities are being celebrated for Seniors’ Week, which goes from June 1 – 7.

In previous years, seniors have been celebrated with concerts, events and other activities so people can say, ‘thank you’.

However, because of COVID-19 and the impact it’s had on seniors and seniors’ homes across the country, many who help out for the week have had to find different ways to celebrate.

This year, Grande Prairie Seniors Outreach, with help from the Family and Community Support Services for both the County and City of Grande Prairie, the Towns of Beaverlodge and Wembley and the Village of Hythe, has been delivering all types of gifts to hundreds of seniors in the community and across the Peace Region so they can feel celebrated.

“We have gotten flowers delivered to all of the lodges and seniors’ homes. We’ve gotten flower baskets delivered to them and gift bags with teacups and a cup of tea so they can sit down and enjoy a cup of tea for senior’s week,” said Sheri Dennis the Executive Director of Senior Outreach. “It’s been very well received, and I’ve heard so many good comments.”

Meaningful Mementos

Remembering Someone You've Lost at Christmas

Dec 03, 2024

Seasonal Sorrow

How Do You Get Through The Holidays When You're Grieving?

Nov 01, 2024

Upcoming Events at Oliver's

Grief & Loss and Estate Planning Seminars

Oct 02, 2024

Gift baskets for seniors. Photo Credit: Grande Prairie Seniors Outreach.

Radio stations such as Big Country 93.1 are also allowing people to call in to the respective stations and shout out a senior and give a big, ‘thank you’ to them for what they have done in your life. You can also use the Big Country app to record your message and send it to the station.

FCSS teams and council members from the participating communities have all been responsible for putting the flowers, and gift baskets together, which Dennis says has been a huge help.

“The volunteers, they just come out of the woodwork. They showed up and that’s great!”

The big event planned for senior’s week is happening this Friday and it is a concert with music therapist Kelsi McInnes at 1:30 p.m. The concert will be live streamed on Facebook for everyone to watch.

While there are a lot of precautions in place, Dennis says they are making sure that they do all of their events safely to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“We sure want to be careful that we keep our vulnerable seniors safe. So, we’re really encouraging our seniors to still continue to stay home and stay safe. We’re happy to bring this to them in a safe manor using all the precautions that we can to keep everybody safe through this pandemic.”