All gifts go to South County seniors in need
Published in the December 10-23, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Robert Airoldi
From left, Starbucks shift supervisors Carolynn Ryder and Christy Wright, and baristas Tamra
Trujillo and Cynthia Trujillo in front of the Santa for Senior Christmas tree at the Walnut Grove Drive coffee shop location. Photo by Robert Airoldi
For most Morgan Hill residents, the holidays are a time to gather with friends and family, celebrate, reflect on the past and plan for the future. Many seniors, however, don’t look forward to the holiday season with that same anticipation.
Gone are the days when they could cook a turkey dinner with all the fixings, or when they purchased gifts for dozens of children and grandchildren. Perhaps their spouse has died and their children have relocated. Many seniors eventually are alone.
To that end, for the past eight years, Home Instead Senior Care’s “Be a Santa to a Senior” program has helped provide 1.2 million gifts to more than 700,000 seniors.
Locally, the program targets seniors who might be living alone and not likely to get gifts during the holidays. A tree is set up at the Starbucks shop on Walnut Grove Avenue just off Dunne Avenue.
Those willing to give can select an ornament from the tree that has a senior’s name and their desired gift. They can purchase the gift and bring it to the Aging Resource Center, where it will be delivered to the facility where the senior resides and given to them on Christmas day,
“For seniors in longterm facilities with no families this could be there only gift,” said Jennifer McLain, community service representative at the Morgan Hill Home Instead Senior Care franchise.
The program began in 2006 when Be a Santa to a Senior volunteers visited a local nursing facility and distributed gifts to a number of residents, including one 87-year-old woman.
She was pleased to receive her gift and thanked the volunteers profusely, but it wasn’t until they returned to give the woman another gift in 2007 that they recognized the true value of Be a Santa to a Senior.
When they entered her room for their second visit, they noticed that the only card on her bulletin board was the Be a Santa to a Senior card from the previous year.
As they spoke with her caregivers they learned that the Be a Santa for a Senior Christmas card and gift were the only items she received throughout the year. She told the volunteers she re-read the card regularly to help keep that memory alive.
“We have found that this program provides a much-needed boost, not only through gifts but also through human interaction,” said Paul Hogan, co-founder and chairman of the Home Instead Senior Care network.
The gifts requested are basic. Most are gift cards from retailers like Target, Wal-Mart, Safeway, while others request items such as sweat pants, blankets, shoes, pants or boots.
And the volunteers who help deliver the gifts get something out of the experience as well.
Carolynn Ryder, shift supervisor at Starbucks, is looking forward to volunteering. “I like putting a face to the names and working with the elderly and youth,” she said.
Prior to the holiday season, participating local nonprofit organizations identified needy and isolated seniors in the community and provided those names to McLain.
The Starbucks Christmas tree is adorned with more than 400 ornaments, and when those are taken, more will be added, McLain said.
Local Girl Scouts will help wrap the hundreds of gifts.
