Christmas Comfort for Seniors Possible Thanks to Community Support – Celebrates 5th Year of Giving
April Barz of Lyle's Flowers and Jeni Bullard, CoA Nutrition Director, with donations collected at Lyle's Flowers drop off location
In 2016 an idea was crafted, to bring comfort and joy to the homebound seniors in Gladwin County. Now, in 2021, five years later, the humble Christmas Comfort for Seniors Program has grown thanks to the support of the community.
The Council on Aging, Gladwin County (CoA), created the Christmas Comfort for Seniors Program in the hopes that providing a small comforting token would brighten the holiday season for the seniors who received meals. In 2016, approximately 50 pet baskets were delivered along with a holiday treat for the seniors. This year, approximately 220 bags filled with goodies to bring warmth and comfort to the seniors were delivered.
Donations of slippers, slipper socks and treats of all kinds were donated from the community. With monetary donations the CoA purchased bowls and in those bowls, they added tea, hot cocoa and soup, peppermint spoons and crackers. Along with the bowl full of goodies each senior got a hand sewn bowl hugger, to help keep hands from getting burned taking bowls or plates out of the microwave. This was thanks to Jane Gransden for her generous donation of the 225 hand sewn bowl huggers.
Pets are also some of the biggest comfort the seniors have, and Karen and Mike Moore donated bags full of cat and dog food and treats for all of our seniors’ pets. Each bag was also hand decorated by Karen’s great nieces.
The CoA also received donations of colored place mats with messages from the children at the local schools, handmade ornaments and cards from the Boy and Girl Scout Troops of Gladwin County, 211’s Sarah Kile for providing 225 cards and candy canes telling the tale of the candy cane, Susan Wallace and Nancy Giltrop for their donation of homemade lap blankets and many other community members who donated slipper socks, treats and/or who made monetary donations.
Along with the community coming out in great numbers with donations, local businesses and organizations also stepped up to help out. The CoA would also like to thank Lyle’s Flowers for acting as a drop off location, the DeShano Community Foundation, Gladwin Masonic Lodge #397, Gladwin Eagles 3292 Auxiliary and the Gladwin Church of Christ for their donations as well.
The CoA wants to thank everyone on who donated to the program; volunteer Chrysta Johnson for organizing the donations; their office staff for packing and organizing the bags for delivery and to their meal drivers and in-home care workers for delivering the gift to their clients.
Five years down the road, little did the staff know how large this program would become. With the communities support and generosity, not only are the CoA staff able to provide a gift for the homebound seniors who receive meals, but they are also able to provide gifts for seniors receiving only in-home care as well.
