Every year businesses in downtown Salmon Arm decorate Christmas trees outside of their offices but one woman has taken the idea and created what she calls a “mini act of kindness”.
“It brings me great joy,” Louise Wallace Richmond said.
Instead of decorating with ornaments, Wallace Richmond, who owns Mediability Corporate Communications and is a city councillor, has placed goodie bags on her tree to help those in need.
“Rather than spend money on decorations, I thought I would use it as an opportunity to pay it forward to the community,” she said.
The goodie bags contain things like socks, Kleenex and chocolate peppermints.
They are meant to be taken by anyone in need.
“Whoever feels they need a pick-me-up is welcome,” Wallace Richmond said. “Sometimes you’ve had a bad day at the office, you’re feeling sad or lonely…Christmas can be tough for people.”
Wallace Richmond plans on re-stocking the tree up until Christmas.
“It’s not how much you have, it’s what you do with what you have,” she told Global News.
This is the second year in a row Wallace Richmond has decorated her tree with goodie bags.