After a tumultuous year, Carin Smolinski wanted to teach her children about gratitude and giving back to their community.
What better way, she thought, than to lead by example?
Reflecting on how hard the team at the Pemberton Health Centre’s ER worked all year—and how the 7 p.m. cheering to thank them disappeared over the summer—she had an idea.
She took to Facebook.
“All it took was one post on the Pemberton Community Forum and it went crazy,” she said. “I think I just said, ‘Our ER team is working so hard. Nurses are unsung heroes sometimes. And when, back in March, we were doing all this crazy stuff at 7 p.m., banging pots and pans, now they’re run off their feet, they’re doing all this testing, there’s much more stress and personal sacrifice and there’s nothing. As a community, let’s come together to show that we care.’”
The idea was simple: collect items to fill stockings they could deliver to the centre. The response from the community was staggering.
“I can’t say I expected it; that sounds cheeky,” she said. “But I wasn’t surprised. Pemberton is just so beautiful that way … It’s definitely a special place.”
After that initial post, items started appearing at her doorstep. One woman came with homemade biscotti, another homemade fudge, and another still dropped off handmade soaps and creams.
“Lots of businesses stepped up,” Smolinski added.
Copper Cayuse Outfitters, for instance, donated a one-hour trail ride to all 18 people at the centre. Kufuka Fitness brought by company water bottles with scratch-and-win tickets inside. Pemberton Valley Wellness brought by products. Mountainside Nails also donated two mani-pedis that Smolinski assigned to the centre’s two cleaners—who have done an important job throughout the pandemic. Cameron Chalmers Consulting, Blackbird Bakery, and many, many individuals were also on the list.
“Lots of individuals dropped off one or two bottles of wine or chocolate,” Smolinski said. “I mixed and matched to put them all together. It kind of worked out perfectly.
Then came the fun part. Smolinski dressed up as Mrs. Claus and her son put on an elf costume and they dropped the gifts off at the centre.
“They were pretty excited and a little surprised,” she said. “But they were still working, of course. They’re so amazing. They were receiving the gifts and working at the same time. I think they were really touched.”
Prior to the delivery, Smolinski had contacted her friend Michelle Achenbach, a nurse at the centre, just to ask how many people worked there and hint that a surprise was coming.
“I had no idea it was going to be big stockings stuffed with goodies from everywhere in the community,” Achenbach said. “We’re grateful and touched.”
Treats have been rolling in to the front desk throughout the pandemic, she added.
“We received a lot at the very beginning of the pandemic. People have been so generous to the emergency staff—not just the nurses or doctors,” she said. “It’s our receptionist, the clerk admin, housekeeping, lab, x-ray. It’s a wonderful team.”
For her part, it was nice both to show gratitude and do something memorable at the end of this strange year, Smolinski said.
“It’s definitely a unique Christmas,” she said. “For me, we’re just really trying to sit in gratitude for what we have.”
Along with spearheading those community gifts, Smolinski also released two Christmas children’s book this season. How Will Santa Find Me? aims to help kids with two homes navigate the holiday season. A Very COVID Christmas: A Tale of Hope, is a story about how kindness helped save Christmas during the pandemic. Both are on Amazon now.
