The setting up of this year’s Christmas tree marking the start of the Cambridge Altrusa Club’s second ‘Santa to a Senior’ was done in town on Saturday.
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
Club members spent a few hours decorating the tree at Unichem pharmacy with baubles, tinsel and around 50 written gift tags aimed at easing the loneliness felt by some of the town’s seniors during the festive season.
The ‘Santa to a Senior’ initiative was launched by Cambridge Altrusa Club last year. It sees the club collaborate with an aged-care facility and Unichem to collect gifts for seniors who will be without family at Christmas. The aged-care facility identifies seniors who will be alone over the festive period and gives Altrusa an idea of what gift might suit them to the value of around $25. Without identifying the senior in question, that information is written on the back of the gift tag hanging on the Christmas tree.
People wanting to support the initiative simply select a tag, buy the suggested gift from a retailer of their choice, then pop the unwrapped gift into the basket placed next to the tree. Gifts are then collected by Altrusa members, wrapped and labelled and taken to the aged-care facility for distribution to the selected recipients on Christmas Day.
The idea to bring the concept here was that of club president and nurse, Alison Burr.
The tree will be up until December 18.
Last year, the club put 25 tags on the tree but had to find more to meet the level of public interest. This year, they are putting 50 tags on the tree.
Preparing for the weekend launch of ‘Santa to a Senior’ last year were Cambridge Altrusa Club members, from left, Maureen Blackstock, Jenny Shaw, Glenda Little, De-ane Busby and Alison Burr.
