WEST SPRINGFIELD – While current circumstances prevented the annual town-wide Easter egg hunt, a mother and daughter pair from West Springfield hosted their own version to bring joy in an uncertain time.

Kim Tasokovic and her 9-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, were initially only going to put together some Easter baskets for children in need “that weren’t going to get Easter this year because of everything going on.” However, after seeing “everyone so upset because there was no Easter egg hunt this year” and seeing people “walking around the neighborhood all the time,” Kim and Elizabeth decided to host their own egg hunt.

Kim said they “put the eggs on the side of the street” so “as kids were going for a walk they’d find the eggs.” Additionally, they left out baskets, books and bubbles for people going on the hunt to take. They explained that they wore gloves while preparing and placing the eggs as well as leaving the items outside. Additionally, they left sanitizing wipes out by the items and sprayed them down with disinfectant every hour, or each time they saw someone take an item.

Elizabeth said they didn’t make the hunt too difficult. “[We didn’t] really hide them, we put them on the side [of the sidewalk]. We wanted people to find them,” she told Reminder Publishing. Kim said the pair “tried to stay away from mail boxes” and “tried to think of ways it wouldn’t contaminate” the eggs. Additionally, the pair said they avoided placing eggs on people’s yards as to further avoid potential contamination.

In total, the pair put out “over 300 eggs,” Kim said. She added that she only bought candy to go inside of the eggs, and that she already had the baskets and other supplies.

Elizabeth said she “dropped them off on my motorcycle” and said distributing the eggs “was fun.” At the end of the day, the pair “went and picked up the eggs that were left” so as to not litter. Kim said in total, there “were only about 10 [eggs] left.”

She said they saw ”quite a few kids walking by with baskets” throughout the day as they were looking out the window and “received quite a few pictures” leading her to believe that people enjoyed the egg hunt.

In addition to the egg hunt, Kim and Elizabeth also distributed 40 baskets to people in need. Elizabeth explained the baskets included eggs, bubbles, books and candy. “If they wanted to make their own Easter hunt at home they could do that,” she said. In total, it took about five hours to deliver all the baskets, which they did while wearing gloves and masks.

Elizabeth, who helped with every step of each process, said her favorite part of their Easter activities was “seeing the kids smile when they got their baskets and finding the eggs.”