ROGERS, Ark. — Home Instead's Be a Santa to a Senior program is providing gifts for Arkansas seniors this Christmas.
According to their website, the Be a Santa to a Senior program has delivered over 2.1 million gifts to seniors across the country. This year, Rogers and Fort Smith Home Instead is participating to provide holiday cheer to seniors in the area.
To participate, Home Instead says you need to find an ornament containing a senior's gift request by visiting a local gift tree scattered across Northwest Arkansas and Fort Smith.
For Northwest Arkansas, you can find ornaments at Onyx Coffee shops, the Schmieding Center for Senior Health and Education, and outside Home Instead's office at Frisco Station Mall. Anyone can grab an ornament and deliver their gifts to Frisco Station Mall or the Schmieding Center for Senior Health and Education by Dec. 17.
For Fort Smith, the local trees are located at MediSav Homecare Pharmacy and the United Federal Credit Unions in Fort Smith and Van Buren. Visit Home Instead's Be a Santa to a Senior page for more information on the process of Fort Smith's gift-giving. Once you purchase your gifts, return them to the delivery boxes located at the trees at the Fort Smith locations. Volunteers with Home Instead will collect and distribute the gifts to aging adults in need.
Christine Wright is a general manager at Home Instead in Rogers. She's been with the in-home care provider for 7 years and participated in Be a Santa to a Senior in previous years.
From her experience working with clients, she says seniors don't always have family and friends around which plays a big part during the holiday season
Home Instead in Rogers partners with long-term care facilities and other senior living facilities to help provide gifts for their residents. Wright says they're delivering gifts to 300 seniors this year.
"They lose a lot of their family members and don't have a lot of family anymore, or their friends have passed away. And so that care professional that's in the home with them becomes that best friend and that family that they no longer have," Wright said.
Many of the wish lists on the ornaments often include blankets, socks, or even non-perishable items as gifts for the seniors.
"A lot of them are things more of a need in the home than a want," Wright said.
For those in financial need asking for non-perishable food items, Wright says they try to go above and beyond to meet their needs.
During the pandemic, Wright explained that Home Instead had to turn to Amazon for delivering gifts to seniors safely. She says though, it took away from the connections made when delivering them personally. This is the second year that gifts will be personally delivered to the seniors
"It is overwhelming. And just heartwarming. I have to say, when me and my husband and my kiddos delivered the gifts to the homes of the seniors, I think all of us cried at a few of the houses," Wright said.
Wright would like to see the Be a Santa for a Senior program grow in future years but reminds families to spread joy this Christmas season.
"I think it's important for families and people in the community to take a minute to look at everybody around you and to understand what the true values of life are. And to really be empathetic and to have active listening ... sometimes we lose sight of the important things," Wright explained.
Rogers will host their wrapping party on Dec. 18 and 19 outside their Frisco Station Mall office. Volunteers are invited to participate from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Home Instead will deliver gifts to the seniors on Dec. 20.
Wright says for anyone looking to help with deliveries to call ahead of time at 479-936-9885 so that they can split deliveries up. She says showing up is fine too.
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