The holiday season just got a little sweeter for Ottawa’s 1,800 transit operators, all thanks to a woman who hopes to brighten up the holidays, one chocolate Turtle at a time.
Forest Atkinson, affectionately known as the "Turtle Lady," has 1,800 chocolate Turtles tucked under her Christmas tree – one for every OC Transpo driver in Ottawa.
Each Turtle is paired with a homemade thank-you card before it’s handed off to a bus driver.
The tradition began two years ago, when Atkinson first began handing out chocolate Turtles to a few OC Transpo drivers.
“I definitely will always be Ottawa’s ‘Turtle Lady’,” she told CTV Ottawa.
Atkinson works with people with disabilities and uses Ottawa buses for hours every day to visit her clients. One client named Andre helped inspire her Christmas tradition before he passed away last Christmas.
“This would be a good way to remind me of Andre and the generosity he brought to my life,” Atkinson told CTV Ottawa.
This year, Atkinson wrote a letter to Nestle asking for the chocolates at cost-value. Instead, the company sent Atkinson all 1,800 free of charge.
Troy Pitkeathly, an OC Transpo operator, says Atkinson’s festive gesture is a “nice little treat.”
“It brightens our day, and [since] we interact with people, if we’re in a good mood it puts everybody in a good mood,” Pitkeathly told CTV Ottawa.
Atkinson plans to hand out all 1,800 chocolate Turtles before Christmas.
With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Joanne Schnurr
