FRIENDSHIP IS THE VEHICLE.
We could not do what we do without our friends in the community.
We love our community partners! One of our faithful friends has been the local detention center. Each year they grow pumpkins and mums for nursing home residents. (And they’re currently working on a new project for Spring!)
We also love to help people share their talents with nursing homes. Do you have a talent or hobby to share? Let us help you get connected.
Christmas is our favorite time of year to partner with the community! The most effective way to both meet resident needs and use donor resources efficiently is to work with a facility to make sure we have specific wish lists for each resident. We ask them to choose at least 3 things from a list we provide. Volunteers sign up to shop for a resident, then they wrap, label, and return the gifts. On average, that means one nursing home will end up with over 300 gifts!
Other fun projects
Jingle Bags
Through church partnerships, we have helped residents have a merrier Christmas for several years now and through a variety of methods. Jingle Bags are gift bags filled with general items like socks, tissue, shampoo, lotion, pudding cups, soft candy, notepads and pens, etc.
Sunshine Bags and Scarecrow Sacks
These are like Jingle Bags, only in the summer or fall. Other items sometimes included are nail polish, playing cards, coloring books and colored pencils, magazines, and hairbrushes.
Socktober
One of our very first projects was “Socktober.” We partnered with our church and local businesses to provide non-skid socks for residents and passed them out with a little note of encouragement attached. Since then, we make sure we always include socks in every bag we give a resident.
(Shout out to our local TJ Maxx for the awesome donation in the photo!)
Tissues and Toiletries
Residents often go without things like tissues, shampoo, and lotion. Though federal regulations require these types of items to be provided to nursing home residents, many are unable or unwilling to use the cheap items facilities offer, spending their allowance on replacements for the institutional-grade soap that makes them dry and itchy or the cheap, thin tissues that feel like sandpaper. Additionally, these products are not brands that are familiar and feel comfortable to residents; they aren’t the products they’d choose for themselves if they could go to the store. The packaging is not visually appealing and the scents are not pleasing.
Magazines, Paper, Pens
Many residents still enjoy reading, but they don’t have access to the newspaper. Some nursing homes buy one newspaper for the whole facility and then it gets passed around to those who would like to read it. Magazines are even harder to come buy, and we often see both men and women who enjoy looking through magazines.
Residents who want to send a letter or card to someone often find they don’t have pens, paper, envelopes, or stamps. Any time we give out care packages/bags, we always include at least one magazine, a pen, and a pad of paper.
“Nursing home residents often must cede control of everything from how often they get a shower to what they eat. With no financial wiggle room, even more autonomy evaporates, putting out of reach the chance to take a taxi to see a friend, to get lost in a newly purchased book, or to escape the monotony of the cafeteria with some take-out food.”
-AP News article, “In Nursing Homes, Impoverished Live Final Days on Pennies” by Matt Sedensky