Nova Scotia retirement community asks people to 'Be a Santa to a Senior'

Be a Santa to a Senior Crystal Garrett gets details on a program that helps brighten the holidays for seniors.

The Berkeley retirement community is asking people to “Be a Santa to a Senior” until December 9 at one of their four locations in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

Brittany Keough Misener is the service and engagement director at Home Instead. She said they are grateful for all of the support they’ve received during the 18 years they’ve run the Santa for a senior initiative.

“It’s a huge undertaking so I have a great team at the Home Instead office and all the residents here at the Berkeley’s,” Misener said. “They help with wrapping.”

Misener works with social workers and senior centres in the community who nominate seniors in need during the holiday season. The seniors write their gift requests on a “bulb” – a tag that hangs on the tree in their Berkeley location. Participants can go to any of the Berkeley locations, select a bulb and buy the gift, which will be delivered to the senior before Christmas. Misener said they also partner with the Halifax Regional Police who help with delivery and there are a number of companies that participate each year.

“Maybe instead of doing secret Santa within their office, they do something like this to give back.”

Misener said donors can call the Home Instead office if they are too busy to pick up the tag or they can offer cash donations.

“We’ll do the shopping ourselves,” Misener said.

A lot of the requests are reasonable, everyday necessities like clothing and household items.

“Most of these seniors don’t really have the means through the year to provide for themselves so just a way for us to give back,” Misener said.

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