Alberta Health Services (AHS) is having volunteers fill more than 630 Christmas stockings with assorted items this week for its annual Operation Christmas Stocking project at Chinook Regional Hospital (CRH) in Lethbridge, AB. .Unique handmade stockings created by volunteers will be stuffed with small gifts on Tuesday to be left at every patient’s bedside for a Christmas morning surprise, according to a Monday press release. The release said the stockings have been providing cheer for more than 40 years since being launched by a group of nurses in the old municipal hospital. .The project is sponsored by Friends of Chinook Regional Hospital, who donate money to buy the stocking stuffers. All proceeds are used to benefit CRH in support of patient care and programs. .The release said students from local schools and community volunteers help by creating fabric stockings and writing letters of hope to patients. It said volunteers gather to stuff the stockings, which are delivered to the nursing units by Christmas Eve. .Nurses who work the night shift are asked to act as Santa’s elves and deliver the stockings. The emergency room receives stockings for new admissions. .The project is coordinated by volunteer resources and involves about 500 volunteers through all phases of it. .AHS brought back its Toys for Tickets campaign on November 25, which gives people who have received a parking ticket the opportunity to donate a new, unwrapped toy rather than pay their fine. .READ MORE: AHS accepts toys to pay for parking tickets.“We paused the Toys for Tickets campaign during COVID-19 but, given its past success and positive reception, we are happy to launch it once again this holiday season,” said AHS Director of Parking Nick Ternovatsky. .AHS parking services accepted toy donations as an alternative to paying for tickets issued between November 14 and Friday. Toys were in the original packaging and for ages newborn to 17 years.
