"It's just a gift from our hearts."

Imagine being at the Stollery Hospital every day at the bedsides of your two children who are battling a childhood disease. It’s December, but you completely forgot it’s Christmastime and you don’t have gifts or holiday food for your other two children at home.

Imagine being laid off from a well-paying oil field job and then having your wife leave you and your four-year-old son. Suddenly, you’re a stay-at-home single parent overnight and the holidays are right around the corner.

Imagine fleeing Syria to start a new life with your spouse and seven children. You’re starting from scratch, doing your family of nine’s laundry in the bathtub because you don’t have a washer and dryer. 

These are just a few of the incredibly moving stories people in the Camrose community have shared with Kelly Schweitzer over the years. Since 2013, Kelly has helped organize the delivery of Christmas food hampers to local families in need, a collaborative effort involving many community groups, including Vision Credit Union.

And it all started with Christmas gifts that weren’t needed.

Like many companies, Vision held an annual Christmas gift exchange between co-workers. Increasingly, these gifts became gags or throw-away items. That’s when Kelly entered the picture with an idea for a much more worthwhile Christmas tradition.

Kelly had just moved from Killam where she had worked at the local Vision branch and was involved with Flagstaff Family and Community Services. Her experience with community support services had given her perspective on the level of need in the community. “It became pretty clear that nobody at the office needed anything,” says Kelly. “So, I thought, ‘Why don't we spend our money and give back to others?’”

Every year since, staff have delivered food hampers to 250 homes on the Saturday before Christmas. These initiatives are truly a community endeavour involving many Vision team members, the food bank and others who donate time, funds and food. “Our two Camrose branches will be taking part in this year’s delivery as well and they’re very excited,” says Kelly. 

Others at Vision have taken Kelly’s lead and have led other giving initiatives during the holidays, too. For over 10 years, Vision’s Wainwright branch has been partnering with the local food bank in town to put together roughly 30 hampers every year for those in need. In recent years, Camrose staff member Shaleen Potter has been working with the co-op and other local businesses to donate gifts for seniors in the area. “It’s just another need in our community where we have seniors living on tight budgets and might not be recognized around the holidays,” says Kelly.

This Christmas marks the twelfth year Vision will deliver food hampers to families in the Camrose community. And it’s all because Kelly saw a room full of community-minded folks who could give back. “It’s just a gift from our hearts,” she says.