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Despite the extreme cold temperatures outdoors, we find ourselves still glowing from the outpouring of generosity that wrapped our seniors in a warm embrace last month. It’s incredible how a community coming together for one day can create ripples of happiness to carry us into the new year on waves of hope. Click on the image below to experience the joy felt across GEF this holiday season thanks to your support of our 2nd annual Giving Tuesday campaign.
Setting Goals, Surpassing Expectations
Together with our corporate partners and individuals in the community, we raised an incredible $18,050.00 on Giving Tuesday (November 28, 2023), surpassing last year’s total of $10,000.00. A special shoutout to Nakamun Group as well as Acoustical and Total Cleaning Services, whose contributions will help enrich the lives of nearly 4,000 seniors who call our buildings home in the year ahead. Visit our Corporate Giving page to see the full list of our 2023 corporate donors.
Gifts to Nourish Body and Soul
A portion of the funds raised on Giving Tuesday went towards providing grocery gift cards to help our seniors with the rising cost of living. Over 100 seniors received gift cards as door prizes at their community holiday parties. Dozens of others delighted in the joy of winning thoughtfully chosen gift baskets, also provided by the companies who help us provide services to residents, tenants, and staff. An additional 250 seniors could go on free bus outings to the Borealis Lights Tour.
Families Fulfill Communities’ Wish Lists
We also received donations from individuals who support our mission to help seniors live with dignity and thrive in their communities. A generous donation from a family member combined with a discount from The Brick made the dream of a big-screen TV a reality for tenants of Ottewell Manor. Now the whole community can come together for movie nights and watch parties.
Volunteers Deck the Halls and Spread Joy
A special shoutout to the incredible volunteers who dedicated their time to infuse holiday spirit into our communities. Your contributions, from decking the halls to delivering gifts, created unforgettable moments and fostered connections that are integral to building the vibrant, affordable communities for seniors we envision.
Special thanks to The Gap/Old Navy store employees in Edmonton, and the countless individuals in the community who purchased gifts for our seniors through the London Drugs Stocking Stuffers for Seniors campaign. Through the combined efforts of multiple corporate partners and a little help from Santa, we surprised 1,350 seniors across 27 communities with gifts from the heart.
Continuing the Journey of Giving
Our journey does not end here. As we wrap up this chapter of giving, we invite you to join us in carrying the magic of the holidays forward into the year ahead. Visit our website to donate to our Quality of Life Fund. You can direct your contributions to a community of your choice, ensuring that your generosity touches lives exactly where you wish. Together, we’ll continue to spark joy, one act of kindness at a time.
When Stanley Construction first met with tenants of Knox-Met Manor to describe their plan to replace the windows of the seven-story building – with the seniors still living in their units – tenants thought it would be impossible. How could they live in a construction zone for six months, with no windows, in the middle of the summer? By the time the project wrapped up, the seniors and the construction team were sad to say goodbye to each other. What happened to bring about this happy ending to a challenging project?
Building Lasting Connections
Throughout the project, the Stanley team demonstrated a remarkable commitment to being senior-friendly, and treated the seniors with the utmost respect, ensuring the work did not come before their Quality of Life.
Over time, the workers’ kindness grew on the tenants, and they formed friendships. One tenant (pictured above with a few of the Stanley crew members) would occasionally prepare lunches for the workers, which the workers appreciated.
At the September 12 wrap-up BBQ hosted by Stanley with support from Cooper Equipment Rentals, both sides expressed how much they cherished the connections that were formed and how much they will miss one another.
The great new windows were almost a bonus compared to the relationships formed during the construction project!
A Sustainable Upgrade
The new windows are triple pane, PVC, casement style windows with a special coating that reflects solar rays, helping to keep the suites cooler in the Summer. In total, 159 suite windows and 18 shared area windows were replaced, contributing to greater energy efficiency.
To further enhance tenant comfort and energy efficiency, GEF made sure to install new roller-type solar shades on all of the suite windows facing south.
Together, We Can Make a Difference
This project exemplifies the kind of partnership we aim to foster between our community partners and the clients we serve. As part of our Quality of Life Philosophy, we promote and encourage relationships between seniors, staff, and communities based on respect, kindness, and compassion.
We invite other vendors and partners to collaborate with us to enrich the lives of seniors and to give back to our community.
Visit our donations page to learn more about our current campaigns and contribute to our Quality of Life fund. Together, we can make a lasting impact on the lives of seniors.
The Great Knitting Giveaway – Reinvented!
For over 15 years, the Great Knitting Giveaway has connected GEF seniors and local charities through a common desire to help Edmontonians in need. Our talented knitters have given countless hours to create thousands of scarves, toques, blankets, and mitts for charities such as Hope Mission, The Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, and Crystal Kids Youth Centre.
The one-day event has traditionally been an opportunity for charities to come pick up items that have been lovingly stitched by GEF seniors, and for the knitters to collect their yarn for next year’s projects. Year after year, individuals in the community have generously donated yarn for this cause.
At the October 2022 Great Knitting Giveaway, for example, GEF donated 5,240 items to local charities and received nearly 4,000 skeins of yarn in donations.
A New Vision for the Great Knitting Giveaway
Through previous event feedback, knitters expressed a desire to see where their items were going and possibly meet the people receiving them through more intimate and regular meetings. Instead of the previous one day giving event, our knitters now take the initiative to reach out to charities individually, find out what the specific needs are and then focus on weaving love and time into creating warm items to donate.
With this new focus of allowing knitters to tailor their projects according to the specific needs of the charities they choose to work with, meaningful connections are being made in the community between the knitters and recipients.
Weaving Connections Within the Community
In 2024, Knitters from GEF Rosslyn Place visited Operation Friendship Seniors Society to help sort donations at their distribution site and see the impact of their donated knitted items. Click here to see the story on YouTube.
The dedicated knitting group from GEF Rosslyn Place donated warm winter woolies to the Salvation Army.
In 2025, our GEF Rosslyn and Sakaw communities visited Crystal Kids Youth Centre to donate their creations and join the seniors’ breakfast.
The Great Knitting Giveaway 2026 continues with even more opportunities throughout the year to connect with charities in need. Stay tuned for regular updates of the many knitting projects in the works and on their way to impacting more charitable organizations who need them.
Donate Yarn, Make a Difference!
The Life Enrichment Team supplies knitters with yarn on demand throughout the year and is readily accepting new, unused, sturdy, and washable yarn to continue the Great Knitting Giveaway efforts. Our various collection points in Edmonton are:
West Central: Central Services, 14220 – 109 Avenue
Southside: Ottewell Place Lodge, 6207 – 92 Avenue
Northside: Rosslyn Place Lodge, 10915 – 134 Avenue
If you have any questions about yarn donations, please call 587-404-8726 or email jbisch@gef.org.
Beautiful outdoor spaces for a better quality of life.
It is well known that access to gardens, plant life, and nature can support the mental health and physical well-being of all individuals. Well-maintained grounds also serve as spaces for people to mingle and gather, which can lead to a reduction of loneliness and social isolation. Ensuring residents and tenants continue to have access to restorative outdoor spaces is a priority for GEF Seniors Housing and why Planting Days is so vital to our organization!
Corporate Donors show up big for Planting Days.
This Spring GEF provided the opportunity for Corporate Donors, groups, and individuals to support Planting Days and Adopt-a-Garden events at many of our senior living communities.
It was a great opportunity for residents, their families and friends, our staff, volunteers, and our partners in the community to come together for one day to beautify the communal spaces around several properties.
Plants were provided by our friends at The Big Greenhouse at a significant discount, and many of our corporate donors not only volunteered for the day but also covered the cost of the plants for a site as a donation. Our heartfelt thanks for this generosity!
Front Yards In Bloom nomination!
One exciting outcome from Planting Days was our own Montgomery Place being nominated for a Front Yards in Bloom Award! The volunteer involvement from Telus and Telecon was spectacular with nearly 30 volunteers eager to work alongside staff and tenants at Montgomery. All of the digging, weeding, and planting from the team at Montgomery Place produced serene and rejuvenating spaces for residents to gather with each other and their families and friends. We need your vote for our nomination! Please vote for Montgomery Place’s front yard by visiting the City of Edmonton’s Front Yards in Bloom page. Voting takes place between August 14 – 18, 2023.
We also want to extend a special thanks to Telecom for recently donating a new hedge trimmer to the Montgomery Place site simply because they heard from the tenants that one was needed! This donation does more than keep our grounds tidy – it further proves the sense of connection and community between our residents and our corporate partners.
Help is needed for the whole summer season.
In addition to a one-time Planting Day, there are also opportunities for continued participation by assisting in the maintenance (weeding, watering, trimming, etc.) of the spaces throughout the season or for the end-of-fall garden clean up. Participating in maintaining green spaces is a great opportunity to connect, give back, and assist us in our mission to positively influence seniors’ quality of life. If your organization is interested in helping out, please contact us!
Thank you to the following corporate donors for their contributions to Planting Days!
Telus
Telecon
Tru North Restoration
Telsco
Source Office Furnishings
Ecopest
The Big Greenhouse