CHELMSFORD — While you’re playing Santa to your own family and friends this year, consider doing it for a local senior citizen, too.
Home Instead Senior Care is seeking gifts through its annual Be a Santa to a Senior program to provide some cheer for local seniors in need.
Terry O’Neill, owner of the two Chelmsford-based franchises that serve a wide swath of communities from Ashby to Woburn, said he expects this year’s program to provide up to 500 gifts to 250 seniors experiencing poverty and loneliness. That’s up from 200 seniors last year, he said.
O’Neill said it’s rewarding to see the smiles on the seniors’ faces when they receive their gifts.
“They’re so excited, and they’re so, so very grateful,” he said.
The idea is simple. Decorated Christmas trees with paper ornaments are set up in several locations throughout Chelmsford and Billerica. Each paper ornament has the first name of a local senior and something they have personally requested for a gift. Shoppers choose an ornament, buy the requested gift and return it unwrapped to the same location with the ornament attached.
It’s important the gifts are unwrapped for safety reasons and to ensure the seniors receive the correct items, O’Neill said. Volunteers will wrap the gifts before they are delivered at holiday parties around the region, he said.
Any gifts that aren’t fulfilled by shoppers are bought with monetary donations, ensuring that all of the participating seniors receive the items they desire, O’Neill said.
A Mattapoisett native now living in Lowell, O’Neill was a Merchant Marine for 25 years in San Francisco. Wanting to be closer to his family and seeking a rewarding career, he returned to Massachusetts two years ago and purchased the local Home Instead Senior Care franchises. The company provides non-medical personal care services that allow seniors to stay in their homes or other facilities and provide companionship.
Home Instead Senior Care works with a number of senior and assisted living facilities and councils on aging to identify the seniors in need for the annual gift program, O’Neill said. Clients and program recipients are separate, he said.
The seniors the program serves aren’t seeking extravagant items, O’Neill said. He said they often ask for simple items they need, such as socks, gloves and moisturizer, or perhaps a sweatshirt or electric razor.
This year, as more seniors contend with fixed incomes and increased living expenses, more and more are seeking gift cards to stores like Market Basket and Walmart, O’Neill said.
Gifts must be returned to the tree locations by Dec. 10 to be distributed on time. Some ornaments note earlier deadlines for distribution parties.
Be a Senior to a Santa trees can be found at the Billerica Public Library and the following locations in Chelmsford:
* Enterprise Bank, 20 Drum Hill Road.
* Enterprise Bank, 185 Littleton Road.
* Walgreens, 86 Chelmsford St.
* Workers Credit Union, 6 Turnpike Road.
* Benchmark Senior Living at Chelmsford Crossings, 199 Chelmsford St.
For more information about the Be a Santa to a Senior program by Home Instead Senior Care and to find other locations throughout the country, visit www.beasantatoasenior.com.
To make a monetary donation through the Chelmsford office, call 978-256-5950 for details.
Follow Alana Melanson at facebook.com/alana.lowellsun or on Twitter and Tout @alanamelanson.
