Home Instead Senior Care would like to thank everyone who contributed to a very successful first annual "Be a Santa to a Senior" event.  "The response from the public was absolutely wonderful", stated Lesley Sullivan, owner of Home Instead Senior Care. Over 400 gifts were collected for isolated seniors in the Ottawa community.  "The quality of the gifts was wonderful, which will make for very special moments for the recipients".  

The Empress Kanata hosted the gift wrapping party on Sunday, December 14 and over 20 volunteers, including Santa, showed up to help wrap the gifts.  Students from Stittsville Public, St. Isidore's and Stonecrest Elementary schools contributed hand-made Christmas cards for all of the gifts, which will touch the hearts of the recipients. The gifts will be delivered to 11 agencies this week, thanks to the staff at the Empress, and the use of their van.  A special thanks to Carlingwood Shopping Centre, for hosting our tree and to Abbotsford and Campbell movers for providing the many boxes needed to help with the delivery. Although the tree at Carlingwood was the focal point for the gift giving, generous donations were also received at the office from the clients at Robin's Nails, the staff of QCH A3 Medicine, and the public who read about the program and wanted to be involved.

 We look forward to doing this again next year and wish everyone a Merry Christmas! 

Program for isolated seniors looking for Santas

Katie Daubs, The Ottawa Citizen, Published: Saturday, November 15, 2008

In the midst of a faltering economy, one Ottawa home care company is hoping people will still be in a giving spirit this Christmas and spare $20 to buy a present for an isolated senior.

"There are a lot of seniors who have no family in town, and no one to visit them. ... It's more depressing when they don't have support. This makes them feel that somebody cares," said Lesley Sullivan, the owner of Home Instead Senior Care, the company organizing the initiative.

The Be a Santa to a Senior program is new to Ottawa -- and joins the already existing Christmas Smiles for Seniors in its efforts to ensure no senior feels forgotten.

The program has been run in other Canadian and U.S. cities for the last five years, where 250,000 gifts have been distributed. In Ottawa, there are 400 seniors to buy for, but Mrs. Sullivan says if more than 400 gifts are received, there are other seniors living in low-income apartment buildings and retirement homes that would be happy to receive them.

The homecare centre has contacted organizations that know recipients and the kind of gifts they might like. A Christmas tree at the Carlingwood Mall has been set up with small tags describing the kind of gifts people can buy and return to the tree for distribution.

It's a modest wish list: Scrabble games, fleece throws, grocery gift cards.

People who would like to help out can visit the Christmas tree at the Carlingwood Mall for more information.