Spreading love and cheer for all to hear

On Wednesday, October 13 at 10 am, two local women made a pit stop at the Whitecourt Healthcare Centre to drop off some carefully curated goodies for every single member of the staff. Doctors, nurses, technicians, secretaries, maintenance, housekeeping, public health, and everyone in between received a bag full of appreciation and kindness.

Three weeks prior, Joanne Bates Belke had had a bad day. She said the “crazy world” had gotten to her, and it left her thinking about other people who have hard days and how she could refill her heart by doing something for them. “I thought, maybe I could do something for the hospital staff. They’ve been through so much.” She reached out to her circle of friends, including Janice Milligan. “I asked her what she thought, and she was full of ideas. Within a couple of days, we had it all figured out and here we are.”

The two ladies got busy reaching out through friends and local businesses to fill the bags. In total, they put together 151 of them. “Each bag is worth approximately $70. That’s over ten thousand dollars, and we were able to do in just a couple of weeks,” said Milligan. “It was amazing how much cash was donated and how many businesses offered to provide different things.”

Belke said once the word was out, help arrived. “Just like always, you put the word out there into the community, and somebody is always there. Between Mountain, Original Joes and Mr. Mikes, we did a lot of the gift cards and then with the monetary donations, we purchased the rest of the gift cards from those three businesses. It was a bit of a giving back thing. The businesses got some business out of it, and because they donated, we made sure we went back and bought the extra that we needed,” she explained.

Inside each bag was a thank you card that read, “on behalf of many generous Whitecourt residents and businesses, we would like to say thank you. Thank you for everything you have helped us get through these last 18 months! Thank you for showing up and not giving up! Thank you for all you have had to endure. Most of all, thank you for being you and doing what you do to make this world a better place.”

Baked by Melissa Pearl, Bernice Grierson Sugar Bee Cookies, Beaver Creek General Store, CC’s Soaps and Stuff, Sandy’s Homemade, Home2Home Printing, Ralcomm, 1st Choice Truck & Car Wash, Moose Country, Fraser MacRitchie Forestry Services, Burger Baron Whitecourt, New Venture Safety Services, Whitecourt Stationary, Tim Hortons Whitecourt, Eagle River Chrysler, Torch Energy, Evermore Yoga & Wellness Studio, Mountain Pizza & Steak, Original Joes, Mr. Mike’s, and the staff funds from Servus Credit Union and Mountain Pizza & Steak made the bags a reality.

Items inside included gift cards, sweets, a free yoga class, skin rejuvenation, journal, car wash, a medical survival kit and more. When it was time to put everything together, Milligan and Belke, along with Diane Jenkins, took over Belke’s kitchen as they painstakingly put the gift bags together, all 151 of them. “It was so heartwarming, and it made you appreciate living in Whitecourt. Whenever I’ve ever done any fundraising, I’ve always had great success here. It just makes you feel good! These staff members put up with a lot in these last eighteen months, and we just wanted to say thank you and that we appreciate everything that they do.”

Once put together, the gift-giving duo loaded up their vehicles and, like a fall version of Santa Claus, arrived at the hospital ready to spread good cheer. “With restrictions, we knew we couldn’t hug anyone and that there were certain things we couldn’t do or places that we couldn’t go, but that’s ok. We did what we were able to do.” They passed on enough bags to cover every employee in every department as they made their way through the halls.

“Knowing, because my daughter-in-law is a nurse, what they were going through. Not any details, of course, but I could see the look on her face when she came home from work. I know many other people who work at the hospital, and I know they are very stressed, and I pray that this will bring a smile to their faces. My whole intention was to let them know that they were appreciated, loved and that we are thankful for them every day, not just through COVID. It could be a car accident, or your child could cut their finger, you know? Where would we be without them? It was pretty awesome to get to do that,” said Belke.

Milligan hopes that their act of kindness will inspire others to look at health care professionals and staff differently. “It would be wonderful if everybody said thank you to a health care worker. We thank our military all the time by saying thank you for your service. We say it to police officers. Why wouldn’t we say it to our health care workers that are putting their lives at risk? From me asking different groups, I already know that someone is already planning on doing something else. I’m not going to say what or for who, but it’s already going that way. People are passing this on to others.”