INNISFAIL – A group of local seniors were given a gift of unconditional love by two children on Pink Shirt Day.
And Innisfail’s most beloved citizens loved them right back.
“From feeling like the way I did a few weeks ago to what I am feeling today is a 180 degree flip,” said mom Karla Hoffman who brought her two young sons to the Innisfail Seniors Drop-In Centre at the Lundgren Centre on Feb. 26 with gifts of love. Those gifts were a batch of five dozen homemade sugar cookies with cream cheese icing made lovingly the day before; a scrumptious offering based on the boys’ great-great-grandmother’s recipe, a proud British sweet culinary delight that put instant smiles on the faces of more than two dozen seniors attending the fourth and final community engagement forum for the dementia-friendly initiative. The event was held on Pink Shirt Day, a national event held across the country for Canadians, Albertans and Innisfailians to stand up to bullying.
“It puts back into my heart that there are good people in our community and that sometimes we just have to keep reaching out even if we get rejected,” said an emotional Hoffman following the gift giving to local seniors.
The local mother and her two sons - Eli, 5 and Carter, 4, were invited to the seniors drop-in centre following a traumatic experience on Feb. 12 when the boys went out to homes in their neighbourhood near Raspberry Park wanting to bring gifts of homemade cookies.
“We made cookies for our neighbours to hand out and we were successful with one out of five houses. The oldest, Eli, was running home quite upset because nobody seemingly wanted our gift,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes.
“How do you explain to five- and four-year-olds that your neighbours look out their windows, looking at us while we hold cookies, a gift with unconditional attachment to it? How do you explain that there are people in their world who don’t accept that?
“We care about our community. We care about reaching out to make sure our neighbours know us,” added the mom. “They know they are loved by us and we were rejected.”
However, Hoffman added there was light to come that would soothe the hurt from that bleak day. She said Jennifer Wood, the local dementia friendly community coordinator, and Coun. Jean Barclay approached her after seeing her story on social media.
“Jen (Wood) had said, ‘why don’t you come here (Lundgren Centre) and offer your gifts because people suffering from dementia are often isolated, they are feeling lonely and need gifts of unconditional love.' So we jumped,’’ said Hoffman. “We are here today and they (seniors) doted on my children more than I think we doted on them.
“It is a great intergenerational thing for us to be here,” she added. “My kids are running around and being kids and they are just accepting of who they are.”
Wood said what the day showed was that the work made on the dementia-friendly community initiative has become a community engagement project.
“And we have a wonderful family who have stepped up and baked cookies for people coming today to hear our initiative,” said Wood, who also noted the country just celebrated its Random Acts of Kindness Day on Feb. 17.
“That is a real nice initiative. It’s nice to see a ripple effect of what we are trying to do to create a more dementia friendly and inclusive community in Innisfail that involves different generations as well,”
After the family handed out a sugar cookie gift to all forum attendees, Wood introduced the young Hoffman boys, who were both wearing appropriate shirts to mark Pink Shirt Day. She then presented them with a Certificate of Kindness and a gift, which brought many more smiles from everyone.
"It is great to see the intergenerational cooperation taking place in the community,” said Barclay. Thanks to Eli and Carter. Fantastic.”
Innisfail’s dementia friendly initiative will be officially launched March 12 at the Innisfail Library/Learning Centre.
