An elderly woman was presented a $1,000 gift card to help her buy toys for sick children after spending nearly three decades volunteering at a hospital north of Toronto.
Marjorie Brewster, 85, has volunteered at the Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ont. for 26 years. Four days each week she visits young patients, trying to raise their spirits.
Each Thursday, Brewster goes shopping for toys, spending approximately $80 each week. She then brings the toys to the hospital and delivers them to smiling children stuck in hospital beds due to various illnesses.
Brewster said when she first started volunteering, she'd only buy toys if a particular child in the pediatric oncology ward caught her attention, but she soon began buying toys for as many children as possible.
"I love all of them," she told CTV's Canada AM on Friday from the hospital.
She said the thought of a new toy helps kids focus on what they're getting, rather than the reason they're visiting the hospital.
Some of the kids have taken to calling Southlake "Marjorie's Hospital," and are cheered up by the thought of seeing her and getting the gifts.
"That's my kids, they all come in smiling," she said.
After hearing Brewster's story, Wal-Mart Canada reached out to the hospital saying they'd like to help Brewster's cause.
Brewster was presented with a $1,000 gift card from Walmart on CTV's Canada AM on Friday. She was also given $1,000 worth of batteries from Energizer to help power the donated toys.
"This is wonderful!" Brewster said with a wide smile.
She laughed, repeating quietly, "this is wonderful."
Brewster was inspired by her son, who died 44 years ago of leukemia at the Newmarket hospital. He died two weeks before his 9th birthday.
Decades later, Brewster said she still has lunch once a month with the nurses who made her son comfortable at the end of his life.
"They've got a wonderful group over here. I decided it was time I went and did something."
