Presents wait to be taken to their new owners under the Fairfield County Council on Aging's Senior Angel Tree. The first year of the Angel Tree program was a success, due in part to the generous spirits of those people who adopted a Senior Angel.
The brainchild of staff member Wanda Mills, the Senior Angel Tree effort started out after Thanksgiving, with a Christmas tree in the lobby of Winnsboro Senior Center that was decorated with ornaments containing the wishes of 87 seniors.
The majority of seniors placed on the Angel Tree were current participants in at least one of the Council on Aging’s services. A “wish list” of items the seniors would like for Christmas was transferred to each ornament.
Most requests were for basic items such as groceries or household supplies. To preserve privacy, each Senior Angel was assigned a number, and then the angel ornaments were placed on the tree. Angel ornaments with $25 contributions towards the agency’s Meals on Wheels program, which provides a week of meals for a senior, were also hung on the tree.
People wishing to adopt seniors chose an angel ornament, shopped for their particular angel and were asked to bring the gifts, with a $30 suggested limit, back to the Senior Center.
The presents, wrapped as the donors chose to wrap them, arrived back at the Council on Aging during the weeks leading up to Christmas and were delivered by some jolly volunteers just in time for Christmas.
All of the angels placed on the tree were adopted and the agency was overwhelmed by the support and generosity of so many people throughout the community.
In addition to the angel tree recipients, all of the agency’s home bound clients were able to receive a special gift thanks to donations from Sandra Jones and Donna Wright.
Special thanks go out to the United Auto Workers/Mack Truck retirees for adopting 19 angels, Harbison Housing Foundation for adopting angels and contributing generously to Meals on Wheels, and the members of Pleasant Grove Presbyterian Church for donating canned food items and funds to the agency.
Heartfelt thanks also go to the many individuals who adopted seniors or made a contribution to the Meals on Wheels program. The kindness shown to these seniors was amazing.
With the success of the Senior Angel Tree effort this year, it is certain that the Council on Aging will be hanging more Senior Angel ornaments on the tree again next year.
Post a Comment
