I wanted to share with you a community service project that I have decided to help out with. My Mary Kay director and mentor told me about program that she started doing several years ago, and encourages all her unit members to help out. It's called Adopt a Grandparent. Usually any given nursing home will have a fairly large handful of residents who won’t have any visitors at all over the holidays. I stopped at The Village at Richardson, a nearby nursing home (that has 220 residents) and explained to Emily, the Activities Director, how I hope to get friends, family, and local businesses to sponsor gift baskets that I can personally deliver to our adopted grandparents.
“Um,” Emily hesitated. “Who sent you?”
“Nobody,” I answered. “I sent myself.”
Emily started crying. “In the past we’ve always had volunteers for this sort of thing, but not this year. Not at all. I’ve spent the last few days calling around trying to get somebody – anybody – to do something like this.”
“Well, okay then,” I said, and I gave Emily a hug. Her crying made me feel like crying too. “How many of your residents do you think won’t have visitors?”
“Frankly, two hundred.”
Emily told me that this nursing home is basically a “dumping ground” for people to be somewhere until they die. Family members don’t visit. Period. Not even for Christmas. Some won’t even come to claim the body!
No doubt, this is exactly where Adopt a Grandparent is needed. So I’m hosting a Christmas party at the home. The gift baskets (approved by the home) are $20 each (it's a tax deductible donation). I’m preparing one for every resident, and the donor's name will be written on an attached card. I AM STILL LOOKING FOR SPONSORS. Payment options include cash, checks, and credit/debit cards.
If you would like to cover Christian's costs (she put the whole thing on her credit card), please email her at: runs_with_scissors6565@yahoo.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment