The spirit of Christmas is alive and well at GreenField Health & Rehabilitation Center in Lancaster, an affiliate of the Niagara Lutheran Health System. And, families going through tough times will be the beneficiaries.
This facility-wide project goes on all year. Money is raised through hot dog sales, raffles, Chinese auctions, car washes special lunches, and many more activities in which residents staff and visitors participate. Then names of families are obtained through Child & Family Services, and staff members adopt a family.
It’s not just the people who receive the gifts who benefit. Staff members tell stories about how they saw the spirit of giving demonstrated in their own families while shopping for gifts for others and even at the mall. One woman’s husband got involved in picking out the gifts for their family of a single mom and two children and even did a little shopping of his own on the side for them. A young nurse used coupons from a trendy store for teenagers and when she explained to the clerk at the store who the gifts were for, the clerk added an employee discount to make the money go further.
Staff and volunteers spent a good portion of one day wrapping and tagging a huge roomful of gifts that took two vans to deliver to Child and Family service the week before Christmas.