Giving to those in need is helping a Saskatoon resident overcome her anxiety struggles

The holidays can be tough for those who are struggling to make ends meet and one Saskatoon resident is not only doing good in the community, she’s tackling her fears at the same time.

Wendy Lissinna’s daughter Sarah has been through some challenging times and has struggled to be in public places or crowds due to her anxiety.

“My daughter Sarah has had some hard times and she's been through a lot,” said Lissinna. “She's got terrible anxiety and trauma.”

For the first time in her life Sarah’s getting back on her feet with help of a government assistance program. And with a generous heart, she wanted to do something nice for her community.

“The first thing I wanted to do when I got that money was give back to my community and my city,” Sarah said. “Because they've done so much for me and helped me through so much, I thought why not give to the people that don't have what we have.”

In less than a month, she crocheted dozens of toques and scarves and made 50 care kits with essentials to hand out to residents in the community.

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“About a month ago, she started knitting and she's been knitting toques and scarves and she wants to hand them out,” Lissinna said. “So then when it got closer to the time she said, ‘we need to put some little gift bags together with soap and toothpaste and toothbrush and we've got loads of socks and things like that.’”

Lissinna says the care kits were an idea that came later in the process.

“We put pads for women in there,” she said. “We have hair ties, toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, a pack of noodles, some candy canes, chocolate and deodorant, just some essential things like that.”

Tackling her fear of public places wasn't easy, but Sarah had the help of her friends and family to give her encouragement to step outside her comfort zone.

“I've known Sarah for a couple years,” said Sarah Bivand, Lissinna’s friend. “We have both been through a lot of really, really tough stuff and we know what it's like to be in need.”

When Lissinna told Bivand her plan, she was on board immediately.

“I'm like, run with it, go for it,” Bivand said. “You're going to put so many smiles on so many people's faces. You're going to warm people's hearts.”

Bivand said she had to be supportive, but also push her friend to get outside her comfort zone.

“I'm a little bit of a tough love cheerleader,” she said. “So it's incredible to see the growth that she's gone through. To see her wanting to give back [through] this little opportunity, it's amazing.”

Seeing her daughter taking that first step, with support from friends and family was huge for Lissinna.

“For her to want to take this step, it's huge,” she said. “If her counselor could see her now, I hope she does, she would be so proud of her because this is so out of Sarah's comfort zone.”

Sarah encourages others who might be going through something to reach out for support and see how much they can accomplish if they stand up to their fears.

“I used to think I didn't have support, but I always did, but I just didn't believe it,” she said “And when I finally let that support in it was a huge game changer.”

The girls say they’re already coming up with plans to improve the care kits for next year.