Emily Wager sought to make a Christmas wish come true for her neighbour, but says she’s the one who has been touched by the true spirit of the season.
The Queen’s Park resident recently decided to raise funds to buy a scooter for a neighbour who has multiple health issues and is on a fixed income. She’s set up a Go Fund Me account, where folks could place orders for home-baked cookies, with all proceeds going toward a scooter for Bob Jarvis.
“He needs a specialized scooter because of all of his equipment,” she said. “I’m hoping to get about $2,500, but anything we get will go toward the scooter.”
The Recordposted an article online about Wager’s efforts and her fundraising campaign took off faster than Santa’s reindeer on Christmas Eve. Within days, she’d raised more than $4,700.
“I did find out the scooter is actually going to cost us about $4,600,” she said. “It’s good we ended up with that amount. Any extra money is going to go toward accessories for his scooter, and paying off some of his bills for the holidays.”
Wager was overwhelmed by the community’s response to buy a scooter for her neighbour.
“Every day I am more and more shocked. I have been receiving so many wonderful messages and support, people asking if they can help bake cookies and deliver them,” she said. “I’ve been getting message from people telling me that it’s reminded people what Christmas is all about. Really, I’m the one that has been reminded because of how many wonderful people have been contacting me, donating and supporting this.”
Wager used to see Jarvis going out collecting bottles daily and thought he was doing it to put food on his table. One Christmas Eve he knocked at the door of her family’s home with a sack full of presents. Unbeknownst to the family, he’d been saving all of the money raised through collecting bottles to give back to others.
“It was one of the most selfless things I’ve ever seen,” she said. “It brought my whole family to tears. Every day, he’s out there carrying his oxygen tank with him to, with his little walker, a couple miles to the bottle depot and back.”
Jarvis, 70, has osteoarthritis in his legs and emphysema. He’s on oxygen 24/7, but the scooter will greatly improve his quality of life.
“It means I can get out and see the rest of the world again,” he said about having a scooter. “Usually I only go out once a month when I get my old-age pension.”
Until his health deteriorated and made it hard for him to get around, Jarvis collected bottles for several years so he could buy gifts for the Wager family, his landlords and their son, and the other fellows living in his rooming house.
“I used to go bottle hunting, pick up their bottles. I used to hold all my money in my bank and at Christmas time I’d dress up like Santa and I would buy them presents,” he said. “It makes me feel good.”
Jarvis choked up with tears when Wager told him he’d be getting a scooter. He’d already opened a bank account and tried saving some money to buy one himself, but with just $400 left for food and other items after paying his monthly bills, he knew it would be a long time before he could afford a scooter on his own.
“I want to thank everybody for helping us out,” he said, his voice cracking as he fought back tears. “Thanks for helping me out, and the good wishes.”
As part of the fundraiser, Wager offered to bake and deliver orders of cookies – $1 per cookie. Using her grandma’s recipe, she bakes cookies annually for the Queen’s Park neighbourhood garage sale to raise funds for Canuck Place.
A Realtor, Wager has been putting in some long days between her job and her cookie-baking fundraiser.
“I go home from work and I bake cookies. I’ve got some friends that have been helping me,” she told the Record Monday afternoon. “We have baked just over 1,000 cookies so far, with another 1,000 to go.”
All the hard work is well worth it to see Jarvis get a new scooter – possibly in time for Christmas.
“A huge thank you to everybody for their support, large and small. From every donation to the kind messages we have seen, it’s left me speechless,” Wager said. “I can never thank everybody enough for making this possible. I’ll remember it forever.
