‘Be a Santa to a Senior’ Delivers Gifts to 550 Seniors in Brainerd Lakes Area

Home Instead’s ‘Be a Santa to a Senior’ program had its delivery day last Tuesday, where 550 seniors around the Brainerd Lakes area were given a Christmas gift after being nominated by someone in the community.

Now in its 15th year, the program means so much for those seniors who receive the gifts.

“People are just so grateful,” said Home Instead executive director Katelin Hohertz. “They want to know who nominated them. We don’t keep track of that. We just say someone in the community and they want to know so they can thank them properly.”

The bearers of gifts get as much joy as the seniors do on delivery day and go in with the expectations of having their heartstrings pulled.

“It’s a little emotional at first because you see that some of them live in housing that’s maybe not what you would imagine, that you would want someone in your family to live in,” said program volunteer Paula Crocker.

But the appreciation on the elders’ faces can lift up anyone’s spirits.

“It’s great to see them smile and be able to just know that they are excited about receiving a gift,” explained volunteer LaCoe Inwards.

“The smiles on their faces that somebody thought of them during this time, the surprise that there’s somebody out there thinking of them during Christmas is the best part,” added Crocker.

For volunteers, what’s even more special than giving out the gifts is that human interaction, which those seniors seem to really appreciate.

“Well, I think it’s as important, if not more important, than the actual gift that they get, is just to see somebody at their door with a smile on their face, with a present for them who’s wishing them a merry Christmas,” said Crocker. “We get tons of invitations to come in and sit down and have coffee, and I think they’re just yearning for that.”