Ensure holiday cheer for recipients

Sept. 25, 2008

Preparations are already under way for this holiday season's Be a Santa to a Senior project.

The project, in its fifth season, is sponsored by Home Instead Senior Care, a provider of in-home personal care services to clients of all ages.

Be a Santa to a Senior provides gifts to Friendship Trays recipients, along with residents of the Charlotte Housing Authority and seniors referred by church groups, social service organizations and members of the community.

"These gifts put a smile on the face of those who normally may not have a Christmas, due to financial constraints or because they no longer have a family," according to Les and Roberta Farnum, owners of the local Home Instead Senior Care franchise.

Here's how the program works:

1. Each fall, Friendship Trays and other organizations identify seniors in the community who may not receive any gifts during the holiday season. Each person's initials are placed on an ornament. During the first week of November, the ornaments are placed on holiday trees at area Walgreen's stores.

2. People wishing to Be a Santa to a Senior go to a participating Walgreen's between early November and early December and select an ornament off the tree. Each ornament includes a list of items that might be appropriate for the recipient. The shopper selects and pays for an item, then leaves the ornament and gift with a Walgreen's clerk for collection.

3. Volunteers gather at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Senior Center, 2225 Tyvola Road, at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 11, for a massive gift-wrapping party to prepare all the gifts for delivery.

4. In the days that follow, Friendship Trays volunteers will deliver gifts to Friendship Trays recipients along with that day's meal.

The Farnums wrote recently, "The biggest surprise to us during the four years of playing Santa to seniors is their modest gift requests. Even the smallest gift is greatly appreciated and valued."

Be a Santa to a Senior delivered 12,000 gifts to 4,000 Mecklenburg County seniors in its first four seasons, the Famums report.

Further information is available at the national Be A Santa to a Senior website. Here is Walgreen's online store locator.