GORE BAY—The front room, main lobby and dining room were packed wall-to-wall with people during the Manitoulin Lodge Nursing Home this past Sunday as the annual Christmas tea, bazaar and bake sale proved to be a huge success.
“We have a great crowd here today,” said Phyllis Cacciotti of the Lodge Volunteer Association Committee. “We had a lot of wonderful vendors who stepped up to the plate for the bazaar items on sale, as well as businesses and bakers. Of course we have tremendous support from the community members—it takes everyone working together to make this a success.”
The focus of the event is clear. “All the proceeds raised from this annual event go toward benefiting the residents,” said Ms. Cacciotti.
The front room of the Lodge hosted the bake sale and the many, many items up for sale in the bazaar sale; while the front lobby penny table was stocked with items to choose from and tables set up where visitors could put their names in for a draw for one of the two door prizes. There was also a raffle table and a jelly bean guessing contest.
“One of the things we are trying to do is make the community aware of the residents’ needs and all proceeds raised from today’s event go toward things like resident outings, prizes for bingo, exercise equipment and more,” continued Ms. Cacciotti.
Ms. Cacciotti noted that, “the volunteer association committee is looking for more members of the community to serve on the committee and volunteers to come out to help out, or even just sit and visit with a resident. So many of the residents don’t have anyone who visits them on a regular basis.”
She explained, “I’ve started a residents’ reading group, where they select a book and we all read together and even residents who aren’t interested in reading will take part in discussions about old television programs like those with Jackie Gleason in them. The idea is to get everyone involved in something they like and enjoy themselves. We are always looking for new ideas,” she said, adding that a movie afternoon will soon be held with popcorn and soft drinks. “We want to provide an atmosphere where the residents feel like they are actually going to the movies.”
The door prizes of a child’s patio chair and table, donated by Dig and Doug Furniture of Kagawong, was won by Cecile Trudeau, a Lodge resident. The second door prize of a gift basket from Linens and Lavender was won by Lodge resident George Cadden.
There were also three raffle prizes: a handmade items gift basket donated by the artisans of the Harbour Centre in Gore Bay, won by Kim Kelly; handmade alpaca socks donated by the Cookilburrow in Kagawong, won by Gloria Hall; and homemade peanut brittle, donated from Santa’s Kitchen and won by Denise White.
As well, the jelly bean guessing contest was won by Brenda Smith. She guessed there were 432 jelly beans in the jar—only seven off the exact amount of 439.
