Older people also look to Santa this Christmas

Lillie Mae Sistrunk felt a little bit better than a kid on Christmas Day last year when people came to her door bearing gifts.

The 81-year-old Cottonwood resident, who was orphaned by the age of six, was one of 12 raised by her grandfather in rural Hodgesville during the Great Depression. She remembers well life on the farm, shucking corn, pulling peanuts and picking cotton.

“We never got much for Christmas,” she said. “Grand daddy raised a big family. We got oranges, apples, candy. Sometimes we got shoes. You might get them one year and the next year somebody else got them.”

So when her adopters, through the Santa for Seniors program, provided new sheets, a bedspread, warm socks and a blanket last year, the spirit of Christmas overwhelmed her.

“I can’t explain it. I felt like ... it was just such a surprise. I had no idea,” she said. “When they brought it, I felt like, I’m not sure this is for me. I felt like there was a real Santa Clause for me. It felt good.”

Santa for Seniors is a volunteer-based community service project which provides much-needed items and services for senior citizens during the Christmas holidays.

This year there are 484 senior citizens on a needs list. The names come from the seven-county area served by the Southern Alabama Regional Council on Aging, and they and their needs are all identified by SARCOA case workers who establish a validated list.

All are low-income and many suffer debilitating illnesses. Some are disabled from strokes.

Jim Hicks with the Systems Engineering Group of QinetiQ North America, formerly Weststar Aerospace, put the program together in 2006. That first year, 47 seniors were served.

“In our fourth year it has grown tremendously,” Hicks said.

He has seen participation also grow with the needs’ lists, as numerous community groups and private companies have joined the effort. Alabama Power employees have already sponsored 59 seniors from the list. Hicks said about 200 have been adopted as of Thursday.

Their needs are diverse – some need items as simple as food or house shoes. Others are in need of more extensive home repairs like having steps repaired or roof leaks patched.

Their individual stories are often heart-wrenching.

“Last year there was an elderly lady and when we gave her gifts, she immediately said she felt like they were sent from God. She cried and felt the generosity of people was just overwhelming,” Hicks said.

“There was an older man with no cans in his pantry and only six small sausages in the refrigerator. He received a gift card that paid for groceries. The bottom line objective is to let these seniors know somebody in the community cares for them and loves them,” he said.

Seniors served by the program are from Houston, Henry, Geneva, Dale, Coffee, Barbour and Covington counties.

Gifts can be dropped off the week of Dec. 7-12 at the National Guard Armory on Westgate Parkway.

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Want to help?

To adopt a senior, call SARCOA at (334) 793-6843. See the needs list on line at http://www.sarcoa.org.

Volunteers are needed to help collect and sort the Santa for Seniors gifts and to help answer the phones.