TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Many transitional care and assisted living homes in southern Idaho have wish lists for their residents. Community members can help bring holiday cheer by "adopting" a grandparent and getting them a holiday gift.
The Holidays can be lonely times for some people, and adopting a grandparent is an easy way to honor elders.
- Serenity Transitional Living has 60 residents available to "adopt,"
- Canyons Retirement Communityalso has an Adopt-A-Grandparent list
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
Eva Savage: "I love the holidays. I have kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids. You can't beat that for the holidays."
Many of Eva Savage's extended family members live in Blaine and Canyon counties, so she keeps plenty busy in December.
Eva lives at Serenity Transitional Care in Twin Falls and says additional holiday events planned by staff make a big difference.
Eva: "Adopt a grandparent, and that's nice, cause a lot of these people don't have anybody. And it's nice to get a present that you don't know who it's from."
There are many care facilities in Southern Idaho that invite the community to help make the holidays a bit brighter for local seniors.
Adopt-a-grandparent matches members of the public with a senior in transitional care.
The facility will give you their name and some gift ideas. You buy them a present and wrap it, and they get to open it at their holiday party on December 25th.
Leona: "This is such an important time for the residents to be remembered for everything they've done. We've got veterans here, we have mothers here, they've all done something important, very special in their life, and what an important time to say here, here you go, we love you, enjoy."
Leona Essman is the activities coordinator at Serenity, and she said many residents start to feel a little 'blah' as the holidays start to roll around.
Leona: "You can see it before Thanksgiving. The weather's changing, the days get shorter, and you can see it in them. So this is an opportunity to brighten up things. Show them it's okay, it's not forever,"
For residents like Julia Sullivan, sharing some light during the dark days of winter really makes a difference.
Julia: "Just make everything special for the holiday, and that really warms the people's hearts. Cause you know they don't have much, some of them don't have much here to look forward to."
