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 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 spearheaded Vision Credit Union’s Christmas gift and food hamper programs for local families in need. 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 has 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. So, I thought, why don't we spend our money on others? I'm sure there's people in Camrose that need gifts. And if we don’t need them, let's give them to people that do,” says Kelly.

Over the past seven years, Vision has provided Christmas gifts for 91 families — roughly 360 people. Staff also deliver food hampers the Saturday before Christmas to 250 homes each year. These initiatives are truly a community endeavour involving Vision team members, Camrose and District Support Services, the local Co-op, the food bank and many others who donate time, funds, clothing, furniture, appliances, gifts and food.

“Everybody gets so excited. Just this year, one of our families said that they could really use some food, so we sent out an email just internally with our co-workers. And right now we have two desks full of groceries to give them on top of the presents that we’ll buy,” says Kelly.

Perhaps the most heartwarming part of these programs is how personalized the gifts are. Each year, Kelly reaches out to Margaret Falk of Camrose and District Support Services who provides the contacts for families in need. Kelly and other Vision team members call these families to learn about each individual family member; names, ages, sizes, favourite colours and what they like to wear. Each family member also receives a stocking filled with essentials like toothbrushes, body wash, socks and more. The money to purchase these gifts comes right out of the pockets of Vision team members. They spend $250 per family and for every family the staff invests in, Vision will match $250 to provide for another family. 

And the families aren’t the only ones who are grateful for the donations. “Margaret said that every year, they sit at Camrose Support Services and they just pray that we'll reach out and call to say we're willing to do it again this year. Every year they're holding their breath, waiting for us. And every year we do it,” Kelly says.

This year, with the pandemic, there was a bit of uncertainty. Shopping, deliveries and group involvement were all considerations in how and if Vision would be able to execute their Christmas programs. Finances were also considered, says Kelly. “We didn't know what circumstances some of our employees or their better half have been in. We didn't know what we had to donate as an organization.” But when Kelly approached Vision’s CEO, Steve Friend, he didn’t hesitate. “He said, absolutely. If you guys are willing to do it, we're willing to do it.”

This Christmas marks the eighth year Vision will deliver gifts and food 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.