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A chance to be a senior’s Santa this Christmas
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| Shoppers walk past a “Be a Santa to a Senior” Christmas tree Friday set up outside the Target in the Glendale Galleria. (Roger Wilson/News-Press) |
Shoppers help to fill wish lists for elderly residents spending the holiday season by themselves.
By Angela Hokanson
While many holiday shoppers took to the stores after Thanksgiving to buy for family and friends, about 600 seniors in Glendale, Burbank and La Crescenta will receive gifts from relative strangers this Christmas.
Through the “Be a Santa to a Senior” program, shoppers can pick up the name of a local senior at designated locations and buy them gifts from their wish list in Santa-like fashion.
Home Instead Senior Care, an international franchise that provides nonmedical home care services for the elderly, sponsors the holiday program.
The Burbank office of Home Instead, which serves elderly clients in Burbank, Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge and La Crescenta, is participating in the program for the fourth year, and connecting local residents to seniors who may be spending the holiday alone.
“We request names of seniors who are alone and possibly won’t be getting any gifts other than what we’re getting for them,” said Claudine Reid, the office manager of the Home Instead Senior Care office in Burbank.
Home Instead works with social workers and nonprofit organizations that serve the elderly to find the names of seniors who could benefit from the program. Once these names are collected, they are printed on holiday ornaments that decorate Christmas trees in malls and businesses. Shoppers who come across the trees can pick up an ornament that has a name and two gift requests made by a senior citizen. Gift-givers should return the unwrapped presents to the location specified at the tree where they chose a name.
Volunteers will then wrap and deliver the gifts in mid-December.
Delia Rivis stopped to take a look at the Be a Santa to a Senior tree on display in the Glendale Galleria on Friday afternoon. Rivis, 27, said the donation tree was a smart idea, “because everyone’s here shopping already.”
That tree was dotted with paper ornaments with first names and gift requests like blouses, pants and gift cards.
While many seniors ask for simple items like clothes, last year a few local seniors asked for more substantial gifts, like beds and recliners — and got them, Reid said.
Some seniors unwrap their presents as soon as they are delivered; others save their gifts for Christmas morning, Reid said.
“It’s very rewarding to just know that we’re giving them a Christmas,” Reid said.
Another donation tree is up at Glen Terra Assisted Living, a residential facility for seniors in Glendale. The seniors at Glen Terra are participating in the program as gift-givers, and purchasing presents for other seniors who are less fortunate, said Ray Garcia, the executive director of the residential facility.
“They’re still in a position where they can afford things,” Garcia said of the seniors at his facility. “Especially during Christmas time, everyone’s in the giving mode.”
All 600 local seniors who submitted their names for this year’s program will receive a gift, Reid said, because even if their names are not selected, Home Instead Senior Care will buy gifts for the remaining seniors with cash donations that come in.
Through the “Be a Santa to a Senior” program, shoppers can pick up the name of a local senior at designated locations and buy them gifts from their wish list in Santa-like fashion.
Home Instead Senior Care, an international franchise that provides nonmedical home care services for the elderly, sponsors the holiday program.
The Burbank office of Home Instead, which serves elderly clients in Burbank, Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge and La Crescenta, is participating in the program for the fourth year, and connecting local residents to seniors who may be spending the holiday alone.
“We request names of seniors who are alone and possibly won’t be getting any gifts other than what we’re getting for them,” said Claudine Reid, the office manager of the Home Instead Senior Care office in Burbank.
Home Instead works with social workers and nonprofit organizations that serve the elderly to find the names of seniors who could benefit from the program. Once these names are collected, they are printed on holiday ornaments that decorate Christmas trees in malls and businesses. Shoppers who come across the trees can pick up an ornament that has a name and two gift requests made by a senior citizen. Gift-givers should return the unwrapped presents to the location specified at the tree where they chose a name.
Volunteers will then wrap and deliver the gifts in mid-December.
Delia Rivis stopped to take a look at the Be a Santa to a Senior tree on display in the Glendale Galleria on Friday afternoon. Rivis, 27, said the donation tree was a smart idea, “because everyone’s here shopping already.”
That tree was dotted with paper ornaments with first names and gift requests like blouses, pants and gift cards.
While many seniors ask for simple items like clothes, last year a few local seniors asked for more substantial gifts, like beds and recliners — and got them, Reid said.
Some seniors unwrap their presents as soon as they are delivered; others save their gifts for Christmas morning, Reid said.
“It’s very rewarding to just know that we’re giving them a Christmas,” Reid said.
Another donation tree is up at Glen Terra Assisted Living, a residential facility for seniors in Glendale. The seniors at Glen Terra are participating in the program as gift-givers, and purchasing presents for other seniors who are less fortunate, said Ray Garcia, the executive director of the residential facility.
“They’re still in a position where they can afford things,” Garcia said of the seniors at his facility. “Especially during Christmas time, everyone’s in the giving mode.”
All 600 local seniors who submitted their names for this year’s program will receive a gift, Reid said, because even if their names are not selected, Home Instead Senior Care will buy gifts for the remaining seniors with cash donations that come in.
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