By Sandy Meyer
Caregiver’s Helping Hand, Inc. is reaching out to the community for help with its Christmas Senior Gift Baskets program. Caregiver’s will be delivering care baskets to local senior nursing homes, resident centers, and senior living facilities at Christmastime. This year the organization is looking to provide the baskets for 20 centers and includes gifts for more than a 1,000 men and women.
Caregiver’s Helping Hand, Inc. is a non-profit volunteer organization with a mission to always give a helping hand wherever it can in the community. Its Intergenerational Program has been helping local seniors since June 15, 2001.
Volunteers of all ages are needed to deliver gifts and sing Christmas Carols. Additionally, Caregiver’s needs the following items donated: wrapping paper, lotions, shower gel, body wash, sweaters, socks and T-shirts for men and women and pictures for walls. Cash donations are also needed to purchase the gifts and cards and Caregiver’s is hoping to raise the $3,500 needed to meet its goal this year. Last year Caregiver’s was able to purchase socks for all the seniors thanks to a donation from its major sponsor, the Tampa Yankees.
This is the 15th year for the Christmas Senior Gift Baskets program which began with Ybor Health and Rehab and has added new centers each year. Richedean Hills-Ackbar is the founder of Caregiver’s, and this is one of the many projects she takes on each year. “The idea came from seeing the need for visitors in the senior centers. Most of the seniors have no one to visit with them and are forgotten once placed in a nursing home or senior living facility,” said Hills-Achbar.
Caregiver’s will begin delivering the baskets on Saturday, December 3 at which time volunteers will visit three care centers. Additional delivery dates include Saturday, December 10; Thursday, December 15; Saturday, December 17, Sunday, December 18 and Monday, December 19. For more information, please visit www.chhincvolunteers.org.
“This is a great time to bring the whole family out to teach our kids what Christmas is all about. GIVING TO OTHERS!” concluded Hills-Ackbar.
