Local Senior Care Company, Area Agencies and Retailers Play Santa to Overlooked Seniors: Community help Needed

A local senior care company, along with area retailers and seniorcare agencies, are bringing Santa to the lives of seniors who may have been overlooked in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

Three area offices of Home Instead Senior Care® in Oakland County, Michigan, the world’s largest provider of non-medical home care and companionship for seniors, have teamed with dozens of regional senior care providers and all Oakland County National City Bank branches and ACO Hardware stores to provide presents to seniors who otherwise might not receive a gift this holiday season.

Jeri Edwards, coordinator of customer service and operations assistant for ACO Hardware emphasized, “We are excited that we can now give back to seniors who have been our customers for all of these years.  We’ve been in business in Michigan for over sixty years, and many of those who will benefit from this program are, or were at one time, our customers.”

“In addition to supplying gifts, Be a Santa to a Senior^® is also designed to help stimulate human contact and social interaction for seniors who are unlikely to have guests during the holidays,” said Bert Copple, Director of Community Relations for two of the Home Instead offices serving Oakland County.  “Since children are often the focus of holiday festivities, we’d like to help brighten the holidays for some area seniors as well.”

Here’s how the program, which runs from Nov. 1 through Dec. 7, works:  Prior to the holiday season, the participating local non-profit organizations identify financially challenged and lonely seniors in the community and provide those names to Home Instead Senior Care for this community service program.  Christmas trees and collection boxes, which will go up in all Oakland County National City banks and ACO Hardware stores on November 1, will feature ornaments with the first names of seniors and their respective gift requests.

Holiday shoppers can pick up an ornament, buy the items on the list, and leave them at the store along with the ornament attached.  Home Instead Senior Care will enlist the volunteer help of its staff, senior care business associates, non-profit groups and others in the community to collect, wrap and distribute the gifts to these seniors.  Three countywide gift-wrapping parties, when thousands of the presents will be wrapped, will be held in December.

The community has many volunteer options in making this year’s campaign a success – a tremendous goal to provide gifts and companionship for thousands of seniors in Oakland County.  The main focus for October is soliciting help in writing out the names and gift requests on paper ornaments that will be used for the program starting in November.  A complete list of locations, dates, and times are included at the end of this release.

“Last year we had such a huge response from the community,” adds Copple.  “We wanted to give everyone the chance to help out this year, which is why we are offering more ornament parties to get involved.”

The program, now in its sixth nation-wide effort, has provided more than half a million seniors with gifts around the holidays.  The growing impact and reputation of the Be A Santa To A Senior program encourages others to get involved, too.

“This year we have seen a real outpouring from other businesses who wanted to get involved,” says Shannon Wygant, president and owner of the Waterford and Walled Lake Home Instead franchises.  “The Dignity Funeral Home Group has joined us as a key sponsor, and through their generous donation, we will be able to run a smoother operation this year.”

Ornament parties will be held at the following locations at their corresponding dates and times.  Photograph opportunities are available for all press at each of these events.

SOUTH LYON SENIOR CENTER TUES    OCT 9                    10-11 AM

WATERFORD SENIOR CENTER THUR   OCT 11                  10-11 AM

TROY COMMUNITY CENTER THUR   OCT 11                  4-6 PM

RICHARDSON SENIOR CENTER TUES    OCT 16                  11 AM – 12 PM

ST. ANASTAISA CHURCH                              WED     OCT 17                  6:30-7:30 PM

WIXOM SENIOR CENTER WED      OCT 17                  11:15 AM – 12:15 AM

CRANBROOK HOSPICE                                   THUR   OCT 18                  4-6 PM

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Editor’s Note:  For more information about Be a Santa to a Senior, or to arrange photos of the gift-wrapping day, contact Bert Copple at 248-203-2273.