Community Corner

Firefighters, Community Services Aim to Provide a Happy Holiday for Seniors

More than 170 seniors in town received a special visit from firefighters on Tuesday morning and the presents they delivered helped ensure a happy holiday and Merry Christmas.


Christmas is just four days away, but efforts this week are helping to make sure that everyone in the community has a happy holiday.

on Tuesday distributed packages with Christmas gifts and more to seniors throughout the community and by the end of the week will have helped touch the lives of 584 families and more than 1,450 individuals said Community Services Director Janet Mellon.

“It’s around the same number of requests we had last year,” said Linda Mendelsohn at Southington Community Services. “We are happy to say that we able to accompany each of the requests we had and every family was adopted.”

The annual program, designed to assure every family a Merry Christmas and happy holiday season, has seen increasing needs every year and with many seniors unable to travel to receive their gifts, the stepped up in 2011 to help make deliveries.

Firefighters John Aldieri, Jason Harnish, Keith Glabau and Eric D’Arcy traveled to seven locations in town, dropping off the gift packages to homebound seniors as part of the program. The four visited a total of 170 seniors to deliver the packages.

Aldieri said it was a pleasure to get involved and gave the firefighters, who were helping with the program for the first time, a chance to both get to know some of the seniors and become more acquainted with the senior housing villages they lived in.

“It’s really nice to see the smiles on their faces as we drop the gifts off. We don’t usually get much of a chance to stop and say hello, so this is a great opportunity for us to do that and do something nice in the process too,” he said.

Marguerite Kopylec, a resident of Wheeler Village, was surprised when the firefighters knocked on her door Tuesday morning and smiled as Glabau handed her a bag filled with gifts. She said if she hears of someone else in need, she would donate them right back.

“It’s wonderful that they offer this and it makes you want to help out too,” she said.

While community services will be able to provide everyone with items they need for the holiday, including food from the town’s food pantry which has been fairly well restocked in recent weeks thanks to donations, there is likely to be an immediate need after the holiday season draws to a close, Mendelsohn said.

The need for food is up this year and has reached an all time high, Mendelsohn said. With that in mind, community services is asking everyone to keep them in mind after the new year.

“There is a rise in donations around the holidays, then it seems to drop,” she said. “Right now we are stocked, but if there’s a wish it’s for more after and throughout the year.”


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