NOTL Horticulturalists bring joy to seniors for Christmas

It was difficult not to catch the Christmas spirit at June Floral and Garden on Thursday morning, as members of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Horticultural Society prepared and packed 145 poinsettias for delivery to the town’s two long-term care homes.

Kim Mustill, Alice Rance and Ingrid Regier began cheerily unpacking boxes of the traditional Christmas flower said to resemble the star of Bethlehem just shortly after 9 a.m. 

As June employees Amy Post and Lana Loney were serving early morning customers, the trio of volunteers prepped each pot with a card offering Christmas greetings to the residents who would be receiving them, before packing the the plants back into the boxes for delivery. 

June owner Joanne Bassie, who took over the Four Mile Creek Rd. business from the VanNoort family last spring, graciously offered her facility for the society members to do their annual work of spreading the holiday joy to NOTL’s seniors through its Flowers for Seniors initiative. 

“We have to thank Joanne for letting us do this here,” said Regier, “and for supplying us with the plants, too.”

With the recent closure of Upper Canada Lodge the job was made slightly faster and perhaps a little easier for the volunteers this Christmas. 

As the three enthusiastic society members continued working, this reporter couldn’t resist getting into the act. Drawing upon 12 years experience working in grocery stores in a previous life, skills with a case cutter (a.k.a. an exacto-knife) came in handy. The speed at which the boxes were being cut wowed Musthill and offered the volunteers a chance to concentrate on prepping and packing. 

In less than 30 minutes, 41 poinsettias were loaded into Regier’s SUV and the rest were placed gingerly into Musthill’s vehicle. 

Musthill and Rance departed for the Niagara Long Term Care Residence on Wellington Street, while The Local followed Regier over to nearby Radiant Care Pleasant Manor, where she was greeted by Olivia McConnery, acting supervisor of recreation therapy. 

“The residents love this,” McConnery said of the poinsettia delivery. “It adds such a festive feel to the home. Their eyes light up when we bring them in. And the staff members love to bring them around to them.” 

McConnery said the poinsettias, in red, white and variegated varieties donated by the NOTL Horticultural Society, are just one of the annual traditions to celebrate the season at Pleasant Manor. 

“We get a lot of music groups who volunteer to come in to sing Christmas songs and hymns,” said McConnery. “We do some traditional baking and we also host a Christmas social every year too. 

Though McConnery would be joined by two other staff members later in the day to distribute the flowers to Pleasant Manor’s residents, Regier, who lives nearby, was able to present the first one to a long-time friend, Frieda Neufeld, who will celebrate her 91st birthday in January.  

“She is such an amazing woman,” said Regier. “I wanted to make sure I got so see her before I left.”