One doesn’t need a flowing white beard and a belly full of jelly to bring some holiday cheer to others this Christmas.

The Brainerd lakes area Be a Santa to a Senior program connects donors with deserving seniors who would appreciate a thoughtful gift from strangers.

“We really were hesitating about even running the program this year for the obvious COVID reasons,” said Deb Cranny, executive director of the Home Instead Senior Care office in Baxter. “But this year, seniors are isolated more than ever.”

With seniors among those more at risk from the coronavirus, program coordinators at Home Instead Senior Care evaluated the holiday program and made adjustments with the safety of donors, seniors and volunteers in mind.

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“Everybody that’s working with the program has a mask on, and the gifts will be dropped off at doors, 6 feet distance away, all of those things, so we feel like all of that can be done very, very safely,” Cranny said.
Donors can still go to one of the participating locations and look for the Be a Santa to a Senior tree on display until Wednesday. Each tree will be decorated with ornaments featuring seniors’ first names and their desired gifts. This year, however, there’s also a virtual option.

“We still have physical tree locations in the places that are still able to have a physical location and that still get a little bit of traffic,” Cranny said. “But Crow Wing County did a website for us where there are virtual tags that people can go and select a tag.”

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Be a Santa to a Senior tree locations

• Home Instead Senior Care, 13432 Elmwood Drive, Suite 24, Baxter.

• GuidePoint Pharmacy, 108 S. Sixth St., Suite 1, Brainerd.

• Black Bear Lodge and Saloon, 14819 Edgewood Drive, Baxter.

• Caribou Coffee, 425 Eighth Ave. NE, Brainerd.

• Caribou Coffee, 15175 Edgewood Drive, Baxter.

• Caribou Coffee and Bagels, 14199 Edgewood Drive N., No. 100, Baxter.

• The Center, 803 Kingwood St., Brainerd.

• Frandsen Bank and Trust — Crosslake, Nisswa and Baxter.

• Riverwood Bank, 14540 Dellwood Drive, Baxter.

Select a virtual ornament by visiting crowwing.us/1619/Be-A-Santa-To-A-Senior

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Be a Santa to a Senior is an annual program with support from local businesses, nonprofits, retailers, volunteers and community members. Local Home Instead Senior Care offices have partnered with several local retailers and nonprofits to help with gift collection and distribution.

“Typically, we get all the gifts here, and they can be wrapped or unwrapped,” Cranny said of Home Instead’s Baxter office. “This year, we’re asking that all gifts come in wrapped because we don’t want to get big groups of people together to wrap the gifts like we have in the past.”

According to AARP, about 28% of people age 65 or older live alone and have fewer relatives and friends to provide company and care, which can lead to social isolation. The holidays can be especially difficult for those living independently and may be lonely, and this year’s challenges are likely exacerbating this for many.

“All of these gifts are delivered the Monday before Christmas. We deliver almost 600 gifts that day. And the knock on the door and the visit from someone is almost as important as the gift,” Cranny said.

Since the program’s creation in 2003, Be a Santa to a Senior has provided about 2.1 million gifts, and with the help of more than 75,000 volunteers, brightened the season for more than 750,000 seniors nationwide.

“The people that get the gift don’t know their name is on the list. They didn’t submit the name themselves. Someone submitted their name to us,” Cranny said. “It's more of, you know, ‘What senior deserves an anonymous gift who may not have many other visitors this year?’”

Cranny said the gifts requested are not extravagant but still have an impact.

“The gift ideas are put on the list on the ornament by the person that gave us the name of a senior,” Cranny said. “They're not asking for big-screen TVs or iPads or video games. The list is usually very simple … shampoo and lotion, or maybe some snacks or grocery gift cards.”

Home Instead Senior Care of Brainerd has been involved with the national Be a Santa to a Senior program for a dozen years.

“We get gifts in here that we look at them, and it brings tears to your eyes because people have been so generous and added things that weren't even asked for,” Cranny said.

Donors purchasing gifts for seniors need to return the ornament with their gifts to where the ornament was selected from or drop them off at Home Instead Senior Care, 13432 Elmwood Drive, Suite 24, Baxter, by Monday, Dec. 14.

“Delivery people who deliver the gifts to seniors come back with just amazing stories about how much appreciated the gifts are, how surprised people are that they’re getting the gifts — ‘Who would think of me?’ ‘Why, I don’t deserve this’ — so it’s really a great experience,” she said.

Founded in 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska, the Home Instead Senior Care network provides personalized care, support and education in an effort to enhance the lives of aging adults and their families, including providing personal care to specialized Alzheimer’s care and hospice support.

For more information about the Be a Santa to a Senior program, visit BeaSantatoaSenior.com or call 218-824-0077.

FRANK LEE may be reached at 218-855-5863 or at frank.lee@brainerddispatch.com . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchFL .