When father-son duo Devon and David Hill saw a callout for Christmas cards from a Regina retirement residence, they wanted to respond
“Instead of letters, we figured we could just do balloon twisting because that’s what we know how to do,” father Devon Hill said.
On Dec. 7, College Park Retirement Residence made a social media post seeking letters for the approximately 140 seniors living there.
Since then, Saskatchewan’s coronavirus caseload has continued to rise and restrictions around visiting care homes and limiting gatherings have only been further enhanced.
It means the residents won’t be able to see their families this holiday season, said David Hill, who is nine years old.
“We wanted to give them something… so they could be happy,” he said.
Devon Hill runs Joy Filled Face Painting and Balloon Twisting, in which his son takes an active role.
They spent 10 hours Saturday blowing up balloons and twisting them into 160 colorful flowers, just so there were a few extras.
“It was a great thing to just do it together and do something for the community,” Devon Hill said.
They bagged up their creations and left them to sit for at least three days as a precaution. They dropped them off Wednesday afternoon.
The retirement residence gave them to the seniors with their dinner.
They were shocked and excited to receive such a unique gift, said Maeve McKinnon, the retirement residence’s health and wellness activity co-ordinator.
“They were really happy,” she said.
So far, College Park has received about 7,000 letters in response to its card campaign.