A local eldercare company, along with area retailers and eldercare agencies, are bringing Santa to the lives of seniors. The area office of Home Instead Senior Care, the world’s largest provider of non-medical home care and companionship for the elderly, has teamed with local non-profit agencies, local nursing homes, and other organizations and volunteers, to provide presents to seniors who otherwise might not receive a gift this holiday season.”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 Kathryn Curry, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office serving the Colorado Springs, Monument and Woodland Park areas. “Since children are often the focus of holiday festivities, we’d like to help brighten the holidays for some area seniors as well.”Prior to the holiday season, the participating local non-profit organizations will identify financially needy and lonely seniors in the community and provide those names to Home Instead Senior Care for this community service program. A Christmas tree will go up in the Wal-Mart store at Woodmen Road and Powers Boulevard the week of Thanksgiving. The tree 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 its staff, eldercare business associates, nonprofit groups and others in the community to collect, wrap and distribute the gifts to these seniors.If you know the name of a needy senior, or are interested in volunteering to help on the citywide gift-wrapping day, contact Kathryn Curry at 719-534-0908.
