This was year two of Sunrise Credit Union’s Adopt-A-Grandparent program and more students took part than in 2020.

Sunrise Credit Union initiated operation ‘Adopt-a-Grandparent’ in late November, inviting schools in several communities to have their students produce handcrafted Christmas cards. The response to the initiative was overwhelming, with more than 2,000 Christmas cards returned.

“We developed some blank Christmas cards and sent them to 34 schools across the region. They coloured them and wrote messages for residents of the care home. This year we had 2,620 cards delivered to 55 care home and resident homes in Manitoba” said Digital Marketing Specialist Heather Merckx.

“The care homes were very excited when we called them again to say we were doing it again this year. We actually had more kids decorate cards this year than last year. We had schools contacting us to see if we were doing it again. We’re just trying to help residents in these homes that maybe don’t have family or can’t have family in and we just wanted to reach out to let them know people are thinking about them.”

The cards were delivered to facilities and residents should be able to enjoy them during Christmas week.

“This holiday season presents opportunities to spread peace and joy to those around us. Sunrise was honoured to be the conduit to spread some Christmas cheer between children and retirees.” said Sunrise Credit Union VP of Wealth and Marketing Tayona Johnas, “We were thrilled with the response we received and hope this gesture will be uplifting to those that receive the cards.”

“Every single resident in each of the care homes gets a card and we make sure everyone gets one” said Heather Merckx.