Decorating the ‘Santa to a Senior’ tree
Forty-two Cambridge residents enjoyed Christmas a little more last year thanks to the efforts of Cambridge Altrusa Club and the generosity of locals.
They were presented with gifts given through the club’s second ‘Santa to a Senior’ initiative. Launched in 2023 by club president Alison Burr, the project sees the club collaborate with an aged-care facility and Unichem Pharmacy to collect gifts for seniors who would be without family at Christmas.
The recipient seniors are identified by the aged-care facilities, and are gifted presents purchased by members of the public and left under the ‘Santa to a Senior’ Christmas tree put up in Unichem.
The gifts were collected by Altrusa members and distributed just before Christmas. While the seniors remain anonymous, the public is alerted to generic gift ideas through tags on the tree.
“We had a great response again this year, both from the public and the staff at the pharmacy who helped people find suitable gifts,” Alison Burr said. “People are very generous, and some go to quite a lot of effort. We know that several of the gifts were well over the $25 value we use as a guide on the tags.
“We are so grateful for everyone’s support. Once again, we didn’t have enough gift tags to meet the public demand so we will look at providing more this year. We would like to reach more people in our community.”
The project also benefitted from a grant from Jumble Around.
Decorating the ‘Santa to a Senior’ tree are, from left, Altrusa’s Maureen Blackstock, Unichem’s Michelle Lang, and Altrusa members Isabel Lang, Helen Larnach, Glenda Little and (kneeling) president Alison Burr. Photo: Viv Posselt
