During this time of joy and giving during the Christmas season, there is a group of people in the community who aren't being forgotten, thanks to organizations such as Home Instead Senior Care and their Be a Santa to a Senior program.
Similar to programs such as Toys for Tots that allow the community to donate toys to children, this program helps senior citizens ask for things they need and the community can help to give those items to them.
"They collect names from social workers in the community or different facilities where there are seniors who are either lonely or indigent so that they can get a gift for Christmas or something they need," said Valeri White, director of senior programs at the Opelika Sportsplex and Aquatic Center.
The seniors' names and requests are put on ornaments on Christmas trees around the community so that anyone can take a name off of the tree and go shopping to get a gift for that person.
"People will actually call me and say, 'Can we put up a tree?' Which is wonderful," said Bridget Sager, co-owner of the Home Instead Senior Care in Auburn.
The Home Instead Senior Care employees pick up the gifts Dec. 12. They have a wrapping party Dec. 16 at the Sportsplex, so they ask those who donate gifts leave them unwrapped in a bag of some sort.
"We just do a big wrapping party that's open for everybody to come and wrap all the gifts, put them back in the bags, and then people take them out from there and they go deliver them up until Christmas," Sager said.
Sager said they notify the different senior care agencies such as nursing homes, senior centers, low income housing units, assisted living facilities and sometimes churches, as early as July and August for them to submit the seniors' names.
Sometimes they allow the person who bought the gift to deliver it to the person they bought it for, but Sager said they don't recommend it.
"Sometimes we've had people that have been really upset when they go to deliver them and the person they are delivering to has Alzheimer's or dementia and they don't know it's Christmas and they don't know you and they don't know to get excited, but it's stuff that they really need," Sager said. "Ninety-five percent of the people that open the gifts, we all end up crying. They're crying, we're crying, it's the sweetest thing."
Sager said some of the most common gifts the seniors ask for are items for warmth such as pajamas, blankets, socks, gloves, scarves and bathrobes because they don't have heating in their homes. They also ask for items such as skincare products, bathroom products, shoes and food.
"One time a person put microwave and somebody was like 'oh that's extravagant,' but what they didn't know was that person was not allowed to cook anymore due to their cognitive abilities," White said. "At that point it's not a luxury, it's a need."
Joan Lasseter, co-owner of Home Instead Senior Care, said each year they see some of the same people, but there's always new faces donating and receiving the gifts.
She said her favorite part of the process is watching them open their gifts.
"They don't expect it," Lasseter said. "It's a very humbling experience to see the people in this community cared enough to take the time out of their day to go shop for somebody."
This year the trees are located at the Sportsplex and the Harris Center.
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