(Image Credit: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today)

By Dylana Kneeshaw

OPERATION: SECRET SANTA

Final collection days for Centre for Seniors Information holiday gifting campaign

Dec 10, 2025 | 4:46 PM

KAMLOOPS — Isolation is often named as a top concern for seniors who don’t have family or friends nearby to regularly visit with. It’s why the Kamloops Centre for Seniors Information organizes Operation: Secret Santa every year.

Staff and volunteers with the Centre in Northills Mall have turned the office into Santa’s workshop, organizing and sorting presents to give out to seniors around the city who are spending the Christmas season alone this year. It’s become a large undertaking. The centre has been doing the campaign for more than a decade and now delivers around 500 gift bags.

“They’re all seniors who have been identified as being alone for the holidays, which is a big deal for anyone, so we try and make it a little easier on some of them,” explains CSI Kamloops executive director Brandi Allen. “It’s also a great way for us to connect with people who are alone and make sure they are as connected as possible to other services in the community to make sure they are getting everything they need.”

Blankets are a popular gift, along with holiday treats, puzzles, magazines and personal hygiene items. Once the gift bags are put together, the centre begins delivering them to seniors who have been nominated at assisted living facilities and individual homes throughout Kamloops.

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“Doing the deliveries is easily my favourite part of Secret Santa. I love seeing the generosity and all the donations that come in is a really beautiful reminder of how generous Kamloops is,” adds Allen. “Doing the deliveries and seeing the seniors and having that moment with them is amazing.”

Adopt a Senior gift tags are put on display at London Drugs Kamloops each year, and this year the tree has been picked clean of its tags by people wanting to put together a gift bag. CSI Kamloops says people have until the end of this week to drop off contributions at their centre in Northills Mall or make their donations.