For the past six years our office has been the proud sponsor of the annual "Be a Santa to a Senior" program providing gifts to many of the lonely and needy seniors in the region during the Holiday Season. This letter to the editor of the Saratogian provides the details of the program and identifies many of the wonderful people in the community who helped so much. This is truly a program full of Community and Christmas spirit.
January 7, 2009
Dear Editor,
Our very best wishes for a wonderful 2009 to all of the wonderful people who helped make this year's "Be a Santa to a Senior" program the best ever. We especially thank the wonderful individual "Santa's" in the region who donated over 1400 gifts. Your amazing generosity put smiles on the faces of over 200 local seniors during this Holiday Season.
Special thanks to Project Linus for donating wonderful hand made quilts, Saratoga Gift Baskets for donating lovely gift filled baskets, the Wilton Kiwanis for adopting 10 seniors, the Telecom Pioneers for donating colorful Afghans and lap robes, and our own Home Instead Caregivers who donated so many gifts. We appreciate the tremendous and warm support of the staff of the Saratoga Hospital, the Saratoga and Clifton Park Price Chopper Supermarkets, Clifton Park Boscov's, the Girl Scouts of Northeastern NY, and the Senior Centers in Saratoga Springs, Glens Falls, and Queensbury for hosting our Holiday Trees. Many thanks to The Saratogian for publicizing this annual event.
Thanks so much to the artistic students in Mr. D'Ambro's third grade class at the Okte Elementary School for their handcrafted holiday cards for each of the seniors. And thank you to Ms. DelSignore's first grade class at St. Mary's-St. Alphonsus who crafted holiday cards and also adopted a senior. Once again an A+ for the terrific members of Saratoga High School's National Honor Society who wrapped all of the gifts, led by their energetic faculty advisors Dr. Rich Demartino and Lucia Nicholas. Thank you to the wonderful volunteer Santa drivers who delivered so many presents to seniors homes, and especially Elizabeth Bruyere, Charlene Durham, Joan Ferri, Tom Gibbs, Bill Hinrichs, Chris Hopkins, Sarah Foulke and Jim Weinman and for traveling throughout the region, from Mechanicville to North Creek, in the middle of ongoing snow storms, to get the job done.
A thumbs up to our partners in this program, the Saratoga, Warren-Hamilton, and Washington County Offices for the Aging, the Glens Falls, Mechanicville, Queensbury, Saratoga Springs, and Shenendehowa Senior Citizen's Centers, and several senior housing agencies, for providing us with the names of needy and/or lonely seniors for this program.
We'd like to add a sincere thank you to the following for their generous donations of gifts or services: Apple Pharmacy, Applebee's, Boston Market, Celtic Treasures, Cracker Barrel, Doc's Steakhouse, Friendly's, Gaffney's, Grey Gelding Bistro, Holiday Inn Bookmaker's, Lillian's, Proctor's Theater, SPAC, Stewart's, TGI Fridays, The Horseshoe Inn, The Inn at Saratoga, The Olde Bryan Inn, and the Shoe Depot.
And finally we discovered the identity of the mystery woman who for the 4th year has donated 20 mugs filled with delightful treats for the seniors. Thank you Margaret Keefe.
Our wishes for a healthy and happy New Year to all.
Nelson and Maryellen Carpenter
Home Instead Senior Care