Twenty-four Bradford senior residents were treated to a special surprise earlier this week on behalf of South Simcoe Police's Officer Elisabeth Aschwanden and Linda Donaher or Linda's Floral Designs.
Over the past few years, the pair have collaborated to have flowers delivered to local seniors and community members in need of some holiday cheer.
So when Donaher reached out to Aschwanden last week, asking if she knew of anyone who could use a poinsettia this year, she got straight to work, reaching out to her contacts in the community to see who could use a pick-me-up this holiday season.
"I teared up," said Aschwanden about Donaher's offer. "I wanted them to go to people who need them the most."
After Aschwanden consulted with her contacts and were able to identify 24 local residents who could use some "holiday happiness" and arranged for a special poinsettia delivery on Tuesday and Wednesday from Aschwanden's South Simcoe Police auxiliary officers.
"Some of them (seniors) have been going through a lot," noted Aschwanden, including medical and personal issues.
The anonymous recipients of the flowers were surprised when they saw police officers at their doors this week.
"Well, what a nice surprise, this good-looking officer shows up at my door and my first thought is ‘what did he do now?' But the officer was here for me!! Thank you to the anonymous member. I was very surprised. I hope you all have a wonderful Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," wrote one of the recipients.
"The recipients are overjoyed, to say the least," said one of the community members who helped Ashwanden identify the 24 recipients of the flowers.
Aschwanden credits Donaher and the auxiliary team for being able to pull off this year's delivery.
"Hopefully we can do some more things this year," she said.
