Join Local Program That Brightens Holidays for Mountain View Area Seniors

This season, many Mountain View area seniors who are alone or impoverished will receive some holiday cheer thanks to the Be a Santa to a Senior® program.

Sponsored by the local Home Instead Senior Care® office, the program brings together area nonprofits, retailers, numerous volunteers and members of the community to provide gifts and companionship for lonely and isolated seniors.

“It is heartbreaking to think of the senior members of our community spending the holidays all by themselves, without any gifts or any way to celebrate the season,” says Michelle Rogers, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office serving Mountain View. “But all too often, that’s what happens when seniors live alone. It can be a really tough time of year for them.”

Home Instead Senior Care has partnered with Walgreens, Wells Fargo, Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, Cisco and Healing Point Acupuncture Clinic and local senior care communities, Community Service Agency and Rose Kleiner Day Health to help with the gift collection and distribution. Program officials hope to collect several hundred gifts in order to help more than 600 area seniors this holiday season.

“This is our 13th year participating in the Be a Santa to a Senior holiday program, and something our community looks forward to each year,” said Rogers. “Along with our program partners, we will be wrapping and distributing gifts to local seniors who may otherwise spend the holidays alone.”

A Be a Santa to a Senior tree will be located at the following locations:

• Healing Point Acupuncture Clinic (744 San Antonio Rd #1, Palo Alto, CA)
• Cisco (515 South Dr, Mountain View, CA)
• Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (650 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, CA)
• Walgreens (121 E El Camino Real, Mountain View, CA)
• Walgreens (303 2nd St., Los Altos, CA)
• Wells Fargo (Nob Hill Foods, Redwood Shores, CA)

Participating retail locations will display Be a Santa to a Senior Christmas trees from Nov. 26 – Dec. 15 that feature ornaments with seniors’ first names and their gift requests. Holiday shoppers can pick ornaments from the trees, buy the items listed and return them unwrapped (and with the ornament attached) to the store.

“During this season of giving, we encourage shoppers to buy a little extra for a local senior,” said Rogers. “Your gift - and more importantly the visit that comes with the delivery – could make their holiday season.”

For more information about the program, visit www.BeaSantatoaSenior.com or call 650-691-9671.

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ABOUT HOME INSTEAD SENIOR CARE
Founded in 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska, by Lori and Paul Hogan, the Home Instead Senior Care® network provides personalized care, support and education to help enhance the lives of aging adults and their families. Today, this network is the world’s leading provider of in-home care services for seniors, with more than 1,000 independently owned and operated franchises that are estimated to annually provide more than 50 million hours of care throughout the United States and 16 other countries.