Be a Santa for a Senior this holiday season

For the last 18 years, Home Instead has been running their Be a Santa to a Senior program, collecting and distributing gifts to needy and isolated seniors in the community.  
 
“I know that at Christmastime, we tend to think towards children, and they certainly have a place in the generosity around Christmas. But I think it's equally as important to not forget our seniors,” said Greg Bechard, co-owner of the Home Instead office in Kitchener-Waterloo. 

Bechard manages the Be a Santa to a Senior program alongside his sister, Brenda Enright. Each year, they collect around 300 gifts to be distributed to seniors in need throughout the region. The seniors who usually receive the gifts, he says, are people who might not have any family, and might not receive anything otherwise.

“We’ve all experienced feelings of loneliness during the pandemic, and seniors are at a particularly high risk for isolation,” said Enright. “Be a Santa to a Senior shows the older adults in our community that they are valued and thought of during the holidays.” 

Typically, the program runs in-person. But because of the pandemic, for the last two years, they have partnered with Amazon Business to offer contactless gift giving. 
 
“This program is hugely important, and we didn’t want to not do it, despite what was going on in the world. So with this partnership, we’re able to keep everything moving along, everybody safe, and facilitate a contactless gift giving experience for seniors in our community,” Bechard said. 
 
“Since March, things have been exceptionally difficult for everybody in our community, but we’ve seen that it’s been more challenging for older adults; social isolation is something seniors struggle with on an ongoing basis,” he said. “So now more than ever, this program is very important. And we’re really excited that we’re able to work with Amazon to do something that doesn’t put anybody at risk and keeps the program rolling.”

He says there are two components to what makes this program special. The first, is, of course, the actual gift giving. 

“These gifts are not glamorous items, a lot of them are personal care items, blankets, soaps, shampoos, creams, slippers, house coats, maybe some puzzles or a book about their favourite animals. A lot of them are more necessities than anything else. And so, it’s certainly a key part of the program.”

But he says it’s also about the recognition that someone has been thinking about them.

“I think the most important part that touches our seniors and certainly everybody who's involved with the program, is remembering the seniors, and them knowing that somebody was thinking about them at Christmas time.”

In addition to the Amazon program, they have a tree in the community, in the Court At Laurelwood Retirement Residence. The tree features ornaments with names of seniors in need; participants take the ornament, buy the gift, and return it under the tree.

In years past they would have a wrapping party, where donors could wrap their own presents. But because of the pandemic, they’re not doing it this year, though Bechard hopes it will return by the next Christmas season. 

Instead, their organization will be wrapping the gifts, and then distributing them to the Village at University Gates LTH in Waterloo, Chartwell Elmira Retirement Residence and St. Mary’s Hospital. 

“So with those three partners, they're able to pull together lists and identify seniors that need gifts,” he said. 

According to Bechard, year after year, the support this program has received has been “phenomenal.”

“I can honestly tell you that my experience has been that in our community, there's no shortage of support. We've never struggled to have people jump in and purchase gifts.”

With the addition of the Amazon partnership allowing for contactless donations, he believes they are able to reach a new demographic of supporters who wouldn’t be able to go out into the community, as well as those who are more inclined to do their shopping online. 

While the contactless option allows them to continue the program safely during the pandemic, and capture a new demographic, he says he would like to continue with both the online version and their original format of going in and getting names and gifts off the trees. 

“Maybe I'm old school, [but] I personally prefer [the original program], just because I think it's a little more personal. If you go to a tree, you select the gifts, you purchase the gift and come back to wrap it, you're involved, you know, that's a little more personal,” he said. 

For more information on how to Be a Santa to a Senior, whether online or in person, visit BeaSantatoaSenior.com or call 519-571-1665.