Gift-Giving Volunteer Honored

Typically when Christina Sciortino visits St. Anne’s Salvatorian Campus it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

St. Anne’s will still be months away from its famous transformation into a winter wonderland when she makes her very first summer visit on July 26 to attend the Mass in her honor and receive St. Anne’s 2018 Heart of the Home Award during our annual Feast Day celebration.

Call her St. Anne’s Santa, and the amazing act of benevolence she performs once a year is well deserving of the award, which recognizes dedicated volunteers who provide exceptional service to our residents.

Every year since 2006, Christina has purchased and delivered Christmas presents to the 50 to 60 skilled nursing residents, often giving each resident three gifts apiece! Merry Christmas indeed.

“What she does is just phenomenal,” said Activity Director Lisa Anderson, who collects the residents’ gift lists for Christina. “The residents really look forward to her visit like it’s Christmas morning.”

The passing of her grandmother, “The Santa of our family,” as Christina called her, inspired her to volunteer at St. Anne’s. She was working at the nearby Home Depot and noticed St. Anne’s (3800 N. 92nd St.) on the way to work. Her Home Depot duties included being in charge of volunteer events, so she decided to contact St. Anne’s about a Christmas giving tree. Inspiration or divine intervention?

Christina ended up purchasing most of the gifts on the gift-tree tags herself so St. Anne’s invited her to the residents’ Christmas party. And that’s where the Christmas magic happened. “I saw that these gifts really meant something to the residents. I loved it. I was hooked.”

Over the years, friends and family—especially her mom and two aunts—have helped procure presents and attended the parties with her.

Her wonderful experiences with the seniors at St. Anne’s eventually led Christina to take a position with Milwaukee Center for Independence Home Care, where she currently works as a statewide regional manager.

Instead of the holiday décor galore Christina is accustomed to, St. Anne’s will be decked out for a western-themed Feast Day for her summer visit. “I’m sure it will feel strange at first until I see the residents and am reminded of all the joyous times I’ve had at St. Anne’s.”