With Christmas around the corner, students at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School are bringing cheer to long term care homes.
Students at the West Hamilton high school have written more than 2,000 letters to share with patients at St. Joseph's Villa in Dundas and Waterdown Manor in Waterdown.
One student, Elenita Murphy, wrote 45 personalized letters to the residents at Waterdown Manor for Christmas.
"It's something special for them during the holidays," Murphy said.
She has been writing the letters for the past four years, since she was in Grade 9. This year, Murphy wrote 100 letters in total, sharing her own favourite parts of Christmas.
St. Mary's chaplain, Don Hall, said the program began five years ago with another student who has since graduated, during COVID-19 lockdowns when people living in long-term care were unable to have visitors.
"The program, I think, has just blossomed," he said.
The school has already distributed around 1,000 letters, and will hand out more on Thursday. A volunteer retired teacher, Hall said, will be using an oversized stocking to make the deliveries.
"This is a way of bringing some cheer and hopefully making their Christmas a little brighter."
