Everybody loves a parade.
The COVID 19 PG Volunteer Car Parades initiative started about a month ago and sees local residents coming together to help the community celebrate special occasions in a safe, social-distancing way.
A core group of about six people gather every day, decorate their cars using whatever they've got, some dressing up as mascots and super heroes - there's even a unicorn - and then driving by the home of the person who needs a little pick-me-up on their special day.
Melanie Hanson got the idea when her daughter, Kayla, was talking about not being able to celebrate her 19th birthday during the coronavirus pandemic the way she wanted to with her friends.
"We were watching the news and they showed a car parade they were doing in West Kelowna," Hanson said. "So I thought we could do something like that for her. I thought I could take this on. In the beginning I thought we could just do a few car parades here and there. I didn't realize how overwhelmingly popular it was going to become."
Hanson, who is a heart patient and is at greater risk during this time, wanted to show her appreciation for frontline workers, especially at the hospital and decided to coordinate a car parade to go to the hospital every night at 7 p.m.
"For me it's just acknowledgment and appreciation," Hanson said. "These people are risking everything, they're not at home with their families and every night I'm so appreciative that I'm home with mine," she said.
The parade routes have expanded in the last little while and now travel to other first responders like ambulance stations, fire halls and police detachments to show support to them as well, Hanson said.
People in the community have reached out to the project's Facebook page to make a request for a car parade for birthdays, anniversaries and other circumstances when people just need a little added joy and connection - from a distance.
The other day they were at a birthday parade in the neighbourhood and called ahead to River Bend Manor that houses seniors to see if they could pay a visit.
"It was so nice to wave to all the seniors who were smiling and waving," Hanson said.
It's made a huge impact on the volunteers to see the appreciation and sheer emotion the car parades inspire.
"It's brought joy to kids as young as two and our oldest was turning 88 years old," Hanson said. "They got to see their family and friends in a safe way and there's been a lot of tears from both our volunteers and our community. You can't help but shed a tear or two when you see a mom crying or when a little girl is crying because she can't believe all these people are there for her birthday. It's very heart warming."
The volunteers are all strangers, Hanson said.
"I've met some beautiful, wonderful people," she added. "They're the ones that really make this happen. Without them we couldn't have car parades."
Hanson wanted to make sure that everyone understands that safety is the highest priority and social distancing takes place during the time they decorate the cars and as well as during the parade.
"Each week the volunteers are getting more creative with their decorations," Hanson said. "They go all out."
Answering special callouts there's been appearances made by Iron Man, Spide Man and Batman. There's even an inflatable dinosaur and unicorn and all the characters make an impact during the parades they attend.
Hanson never thought the initiative would become so popular.
"Every day it's become busier and busier," Hanson said. Sometimes the parade volunteers attend 10 special events in one day.
"We've had to recruit more people and we're always in need of more volunteers. I now have a really great administrative team. In the beginning I was alone trying to organize and map out parade routes."
Hanson finds the word is out in the community now and more and more people are showing up for parades.
"It's amazing to see our community come together," Hanson said. "You know we could be at home living in fear but instead we're out bringing back a little bit of joy."
For more information, especially those looking to volunteer, visit the COVID 19 PG Volunteer Car Parades Facebook page.
