Santa for Seniors Program
2011 Santa For Seniors
The 2011 Santa for Seniors project was a great success and collected
over 2,000 gift boxes, bags and presents for our homebound elderly.
"This will be the best Christmas yet for our seniors!" explained Dianne
Trammel, Executive Director for MOW. "The response has been phenomenal and it shows that the Christmas
spirit is alive and well in Buncombe County."
Meals On Wheels Santa for Seniors program is an annual holiday tradition that brings hope, joy and goodwill to our elderly neighbors while warming the hearts of everyone involved! It's a neighbor-to-neighbor outreach right here in Buncombe County!
While many of the boxes were dropped off anonymously, others had stories woven into their contents. Mothers with toddlers and homeschoolers who learned a valuable lesson about the joy of giving to others; school groups that made homemade cards for seniors who were missing the precious time spent with their own grandchildren; hundreds of hand- made sweaters, scarves, placemats and other items from groups like WNC Knitters and Crocheters for Others who busily crafted their gifts all summer long.
There were groups of office workers who just wanted to do something different this year to help their community and hundreds of individuals who, for one reason or another, felt compelled to prepare their own gift boxes and bags and share the holiday spirit with an elderly homebound neighbor.
One young woman, Sarah Martin turned her Sweet 16 birthday party into a Santa For Seniors sleepover. Instead of presents, she invited 9 of her BFF's to bring items from the SFS gift list on our website. Together, they laughed the night away and assembled 11 gift boxes full of fun items for our seniors! What a great group of young people!!!
 |
Meals On Wheels volunteers have been distributing gifts since the first
week in December. It's a magical holiday experience to witness the
response of our seniors. They spend most of their days alone and are
both surprised and grateful to know that someone remembered them during
the holidays. (Billie Vlahoulis with Elsie S. & Johnny B.) |
 |
|
 |
On behalf of our board and staff, and especially our seniors, thank you Asheville and Buncombe County for your overwhelming response! It has been an amazing and humbling experience to see the outpouring of love for our homebound seniors! |
