BEND, OR -- After two years of limited, virtual giving, “Be A Santa To A Senior” trees laden with tags are up around Central Oregon, ready to collect gifts. Gloria Vloedman helps organize the program for Home Instead. She says recipients typically have no family around at Christmas, "More than likely, they’ll be waking up alone Christmas morning. And that breaks my heart saying that, but it really is such a big impact, especially for those seniors who are alone. It’s not just folks that are low-income; we have folks who might have money but they’re still lonely. Money doesn’t buy companionship." She says the pandemic worsened that feeling of loneliness for many seniors, "Being thought of means the world to them and helps combat isolation."
In 2019, before the pandemic, Home Instead provided gifts to 1,300 seniors through the program. That number plummeted to 300 in 2020, and 500 in 2021, when the program was forced online. This year, Vloedman says they're back up to 800 recipients, nominated by local senior service organizations. She tells KBND News the number was held lower than pre-pandemic levels because of a potential lack of help. "I really rely on folks who work in the senior care world to be volunteers for me, and so many people left and jobs changed and, with the employee crisis that we’re in right now in the healthcare field, especially, there’s just not as much availability for volunteers." But, she says, that concern turned out to be unnecessary as volunteers appeared anxious to get back to "normal."
To Be A Santa To A Senior, visit one of the ten trees around Central Oregon, choose a tag, buy the gifts listed for that senior and return them unwrapped to the tree by December 9th.
Tree locations:
- Bend Senior Center – 1600 SE Reed Market Rd. in Bend
- Bend Fred Meyer – 61535 S Hwy 97 in Bend
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel – 300 NW Franklin Ave. in Bend
- Verizon Wireless – 1120 SE 3rd St. Suite 300 in Bend
- The Alexander – 1125 NE Watt Way in Bend
- All Star Labor & Staffing – 550 NW Franklin Ave Suite 348 in Bend
- La Pine Activity Center – 16450 Victory Way in La Pine
- Prineville Soroptimists Senior Center – 180 NE Belknap St. in Prineville
- Redmond Senior Center – 325 NW Dogwood Ave. in Redmond
- Redmond Fred Meyer – 944 SW Veterans Way in Redmond
Volunteers will wrap them the following week at the Eastside 10 Barrel. "Anyone who is good at wrapping presents, or bad or otherwise, please come to the wrapping party on December 13th, 5 to 7 p.m. at 10 Barrel," says Vloedman. Those gifts will be delivered in time for Christmas.
