Strathmore youngster keeps giving

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

Twelve-year-old Emma Moore is unlike most kids her age. Last year, for her birthday, she gathered and stuffed 100 purses with $7,000 worth of products for women in need at the Community Crisis Shelter.
Since then, the youngster hasn’t stopped giving.
From the purse project to creating hygiene kits for the Wheatland County Food Bank to Em’s Bedtime Bundles – toiletries, books, blankets and stuffed toys donated to shelters in Strathmore – Moore is now setting her sights on nearly 5,000 isolated seniors in the surrounding areas.
Last November, the family adopted two Alberta seniors deemed to be isolated and without family during the holidays, through the Seniors’ Secret Service’s Christmas Cheer Program. When Moore found out many seniors who were added on the list late were not adopted, she collected 30 blankets to donate. This year she’s adopting two more seniors while continuing to collect blankets and fuzzy socks.
“It makes me feel good to do something nice for the community, because it’s nice when you feel safe in your community and you know everyone is taken care of,” said Moore. “It’s nice to see that it’s not just me. It’s the whole community and not just one person. I couldn’t get all that stuff by myself so it’s a lot of community too.”
The Seniors’ Secret Service worked together with 124 different care partners and outreach agencies in an area spanning from Claresholm to Cochrane to Three Hills and in between. The organization is expecting nearly 4,700 seniors from independent living facilities to 24-hour care facilities to be adopted – a family anonymously purchases items on the senior’s wish list to gift them at Christmas – which would result in an overall increase of over 400 seniors.
“Emma is an amazing young lady and probably the youngest person who has initiated it on her own,” said Andrea Brumwell, executive director with the Seniors’ Secret Service.
“Working with this many groups we’re able to affect the lives of almost 4,700 seniors, but we can’t do that without the support of the volunteers. If it weren’t for people like Emma who collected these items for us, then the seniors would not receive a gift at Christmas and they would feel alone.”
For those seniors added to the list at the last minute, the organization provides a wish list of general items to ensure no one is left without a little something during the holidays. Therefore, Moore is asking the community for blanket and fuzzy sock donations to bring a little warmth to a senior’s Christmas this year.
In 2014, Moore and her family volunteered with the Christmas Hamper Society and that sparked her desire to help those in need. While her bigger projects occur around her birthday in March, when she will ask for donations and even use some of her birthday money to purchase items for her bundles, Moore’s donation projects span all year round and have impacted hundreds of people.
Locally, her efforts have resulted in contributions to Woods Homes, the Wheatland Crisis Society, the Wheatland County Food Bank, the Strathmore Overnight Shelter, Veteran’s Food Bank with the Strathmore Legion, the YWCA Sheriff King Home and Inn from the Cold.
The Wheatland County Food Bank distributed 690 hampers last year from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31. Moore created hygiene kits to add into the hampers. According to members of the Wheatland County Food Bank, the need for donations is year-round, and they are thrilled to see such leadership in some of Strathmore’s youth.
Among her biggest supporters and cheerleaders are Emma’s parents, who are awestruck by her selfless nature and ability to tackle her projects while also involved in volleyball, piano and competitive swimming.
“It’s really exciting and we are incredibly proud of her,” said Cecilia Moore, Emma’s mother. “We’re thankful that she’s willing to be so giving of her time and think of what others might need. I think it’s important that young people understand the connection between each other in a time with social media and where everybody is so online, and we always encouraged her that if she has extra then you give.”
For more information or to donate visit Moore’s Facebook page Em’s Donation Project or email emsdonationprojects@gmail.com.