Cambridge Altrusa’s inaugural December ‘Santa to a Senior’ initiative enjoyed such success that it is already firmly fixed on the club’s 2024 programme.
One of the project’s organisers, club member Alison Burr, described the response as overwhelming and said they want to extend it even further into the community this year.
The initiative saw Altrusa link up with an aged care facility and a pharmacy to collect gifts for seniors who were spending Christmas without family. It worked by having a Christmas tree at Unichem Pharmacy bearing written gift tags carrying the names of recipient seniors and a suggested gift valued at around $25. People in the community grabbed a tag, bought the gift and left it at the pharmacy, with Altrusa members collecting and wrapping them in readiness for a Christmas Day delivery.
“We were anticipating around 25 gifts, with us perhaps covering around five of those,” Alison said last week. “Instead, we delivered 45 gifts… people wanted to keep contributing well after our close-off time. That number allowed us to reach out to other residential care units to be a Santa for some of them.”
Alison said the club will start the project earlier this year, and will work with seniors-related agencies and groups to identify local individuals living in the community who are likely to be without family at Christmas.
“We weren’t sure how the first one would go,” she said, “but it was an overwhelming success. There is clearly a need out there. “
She paid tribute to pharmacy staff, and organisations like Jumble Around, who provided a grant “to help get it going”, and Paper Plus who helped with the wrapping paper.
“There was such support from the community. We’re very grateful.”
The local club is linked to the global service organisation, Altrusa International.
Pictured before the pre-Christmas launch of ‘Santa to a Senior’ are Cambridge Altrusa Club members, from left, Maureen Blackstock, Jenny Shaw, Glenda Little, De-ane Busby and Alison Burr.
