You can now 'Adopt a Senior' and gift a happy Christmas to the elderly living in assisted facilities

The holiday season can become quite lonely for elderly people staying in assisted living facilities. But Bridgewater Assisted Living Facility Deer Valley decided to change that. They started a campaign called Adopt-A-Senior where people can donate seniors items from their wishlist, according to abc15 Arizona. There are close to 153 seniors living at the facility. Jessica Newbourn, Executive Director, made sure to make a Christmas wish list for all the seniors living there. One resident said, "I asked for a nightgown." Another resident Angelo Burton wants a "nice, warm coat to keep me warm cause it's cold outside."

To make the whole process easy for the people who want to donate, Newbourn has handpicked these items on Amazon. Newbourn came up with the idea for the campaign when they began to "notice during the holidays, there's a decline in their emotional and mental status." Moreover, Christmas is Newbourn's favorite holiday so she thought that this was the best way to spread happiness among the old and new residents of the facility. "Our residents, who have been through Christmas with us the last couple of years, are so excited. They tell them, 'just wait til Christmas, you get presents.' So, they are all looking forward to getting something because a lot of them have been homeless, don't have anything, haven't had family," said Newbourn.

Last year, after ABC15 covered the campaign, the facility received a very good amount of donations. Newbourn said that they "had so much stuff pour in, it didn't just benefit our residents here." They were able to help residents of three different properties. About 500 senior residents received gifts. Elaine Parsons, one of the residents said, "Last year's Christmas was phenomenal. I had never in all of my life had a Christmas like that. We were from a very poor family of 14 kids."

The staff at the facility is hoping that they will receive a similar response this year as well. Burton said that she wants this year's Christmas to be "very special" and "something" that she can treasure for the rest of her life.

In other news, 16-year-old Elle Gianelli started a similar campaign for seniors called Socks4Seniors. She wants to provide patterned socks and considerate letters to people staying in assisted living homes. She has already covered 40 states. She also started a GoFundMe page for the cause. At the platform, she explained that she loves socks and helping elders in the commnunity. "Silly socks have always been a passion of mine bringing a smile to my face and my hope is, especially in these crazy times, to give some seniors of our community and in all 50 states something to smile about. I personally provide silly socks to seniors living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities along with a note from me letting them know that they're being thought of and hoping the socks can be a reminder of that."

Rachelle, Elle's mother said, "For such a small investment of her time, the impact is overwhelming. She wants to put a smile on the faces of these seniors, one pair of socks at a time."