On Monday, Home Instead Owner Torsten Steinfatt was interviewed by Aaron Gilchrist, co-anchor of NBC12News Today and NBC12 News at Noon, about our Be a Santa to a Senior gift tree and senior gift giving program.  We’re literally “wrapping up” the program this week so that more than 125 lonely and needy seniors — those who would not ordinarily receive a gift this year — get their gifts before Christmas. 

We sincerely thank the Richmond community for their gracious and heartfelt support of our local Be a Santa to a Senior program.  And we also want to thank the many volunteers as well as the Steward School children who decorated gift bags.  We’re grateful that we live in a community that is so willing to support those in need, especially these particular seniors who most often don’t have any family around to support them during this holiday season.

There are still things to do and we’re already implementing plans for expanding the program next year.  If you’d like to be a part of this program, simply call our office at 804.527.1100.  Thanks again.

Torsten Steinfatt will be interviewed today on NBC12

At the noon hour today, Torsten Steinfatt, owner and president of Home Instead Senior Care of Richmond, will be interviewed on NBC12 to talk about Home Instead’s successful Be a Santa to a Senior gift giving program.  Tune in! We understand the short segment will be on air between 12:10 and 12:20 pm today.

Our Be a Santa to a Senior gift tree program has been very successful already this year.  Three gift trees serving over 125 lonely or needy seniors in the area have been available at local Walgreens locations and today is the last day to return gifts so that we have time to wrap them all and get them ready for delivery to the seniors prior to Christmas.

“Last Friday, we had over 75% of the gifts already returned to the Walgreens stores so we have no doubt that all gifts will be received today,” says Steinfatt.  We thank the community for coming out in support of this program and for donating gifts to seniors in our area who really are in need.”

This gift giving program has drawn even more community support.  An arrangement was made with the Steward School (lower school) to decorate the gift bags for the seniors’ gifts and 4th and 5th graders have completed many of the gift bags this year already as part of their community service project.  “…And we’ve had requests from other classes to participate so we have no shortage of hand-decorated gift bags this year — a gift in and of itself,” says Steinfatt.

For more information about the Home Instead of Senior Care of Richmond’s Be a Santa to a Senior program, you can read our previous blog post which will give store locations and details and check out our social news release with more photos and video.  Or, you can visit the Be a Santa to a Senior website.  And for more information about Home Instead’s senior care and companionship services, please call our office at 804.527.1100. 

And, remember, if you’ve removed an ornament from one of the three trees in Walgreen’s stores, please return the gifts today to the store where you took the ornament.  Our Home Instead volunteers and staff will ensure all gifts will be given to the deserving seniors.  Thank you, Richmond!

Be a Santa to a Senior Holiday Trees in 3 local Richmond Walgreens

From now until December 7th, our Be a Santa to a Senior holiday trees will be in three local Richmond-area Walgreens stores.  The locations are: 

1) Walgreens 1798 N Parham Rd, near the corner at Three Chopt Road 

2) Walgreens Carytown, 3520 Ellwood Ave (near the corner of Ellwood and Thompson)

3) Walgreens on Hull Street near Clover Hill High School, 6851 Temie Lee Parkway, Midlothian

Be a Santa to a Senior Christmas Tree Ornament

Home Instead Senior Care of Richmond partners with local non-profit and community organizations to identify seniors who might not otherwise receive gifts this holiday season. Walgreens has graciously agreed to help facilitate the purchase and distribution of gifts by placing trees and ornaments within thee area locations. Each senior’s gift requests are written on a Be a Santa to a Senior tree ornament.

You can help an underserved Senior by simply removing an ornament from the tree, purchasing the gift, bring the ornament and the gift to participating store’s employee and that’s it!  We’ll take care of the rest by wrapping the gift and ensuring that the Senior receives the gift before Christmas.

Touching the Lives of Seniors — The history of the Be a Santa to a Senior program

In 2006, Be a Santa to a Senior volunteers visited a local nursing facility and distributed gifts to a number of residents, including one 87-year-old woman whom we’ll call Mary. She was pleased to receive her gift and thanked us profusely, but it wasn’t until we returned to give Mary another gift in 2007 that we recognized the true value of Be a Santa to a Senior.

When we entered Mary’s room for our second visit, we noticed that the only card on her bulletin board was the Be a Santa to a Senior card from the previous year. As we spoke with her caregivers we found out that our Christmas card and gift were the only items she had received throughout the year. Mary re-read the card regularly to help keep that memory alive.

Home Instead Senior Care volunteers ensure gifts are given to lonely or needy seniors.

Each year Home Instead Senior Care® offices throughout North America spread holiday cheer to lonely or financially-challenged seniors through the Be a Santa to a Senior program. This is the sixth year of the program where last year more than 28,000 volunteers distributed gifts to deserving seniors. In the past five years since introducing this Be a Santa to a Senior program, Home Instead Senior Care has helped provide more than one million gifts to 700,000 seniors.

And this year will be no exception, especially with the economic challenges and hardships that many of our Seniors are facing today.  Will you join us?  Simply stop by one of the local Walgreens listed above to take part in this heartfelt and endearing program.  Thank you from the entire team at Home Instead Senior Care of Richmond.

For more information about the Be a Santa to a Senior program, please contact your Richmond Home Instead Senior Care office at 804.527.1100.  For locations in other cities, please visit the Home Instead sponsored website.