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Christmas comes to north Alabama seniors

Young woman with senior grandfather in wheelchair indoors at home at Christmas, at the table.
Pixabay
Young woman with senior grandfather in wheelchair indoors at home at Christmas, at the table.

Holiday cheer is being spread to senior adults in Alabama. The Huntsville chapter of the Home Instead Senior Cares organization is once again hosting its Be a Santa to a Senior program.

The program supports older adults who may be overlooked, isolated, alone or financially unstable during the holiday season.

Missy Fields is the marketing director for Home Instead. She said seniors get three wishes through the program and the wishes are often basic necessities.

“This will bring tears to your eyes. It’s things that we take for granted: pajamas, Depends, toiletry, gift cards for food, non-perishable items, bath towel deodorant," she said. "It's just very, very nominal things that we go and purchase every day and don't think twice about it.”

Fields said the gifts are being put together, but there is still a need for “filler” items for seniors.

“Some of those filler items are like heated blanket, different body washes, toothpaste, toothbrushes, nail clippers, robes, t-shirts, nightgowns, things like that," she said. "They get three wishes, and so their wishes are a lot of times very, very basic.”

The last day to submit filler items for the Be a Santa to a Senior program is this Thursday, Dec. 9. More information can be found here .

Baillee Majors is the Digital News Coordinator for Alabama Public Radio.
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