Be a Santa for a Senior have changed the lives of over 700,000 older people, providing up to an astounding 1.2 million gifts. The campaign was launched in the UK in 2012 and is sponsored by Home Instead Senior Care.

The scheme works by using their website to find a ‘Be a Santa for a Senior tree’ near you, where you can then take an ornament which has a gift idea on, which you can then buy and hand in to a participating store.

After two Health and Social Care students from Harlow College completed their work experience with the charity, they decided to support the local scheme this year.

17 year old Alice Peacham, a student at Harlow College who studies Level 3 Health and Social care said: “It would be lovely for the older people to get presents at Christmas and for it to have more meaning for them, otherwise it’s just a normal day”.

The Students on the H&S course discussed what they could potentially buy as gifts, as well as gathering presents from others. Over one hundred gifts were given.

We asked Alice what her main duties were: “I worked in the office for a while and I also travelled to people’s houses. I provided personal care there, I made lunch, I made dinner, I offered companionship and made cups of tea, it was nice. It makes me feel really glad that I’ve done something to help. I put a gift in as well and I hope that might make someone smile for Christmas”.

The idea was first introduced in 2006 in North America on a small scale and has now increased in popularity as communities support it.

Ruth Anodin, Assistant Academy Manager for Health and Social Care, spoke about the benefits of Harlow College students taking part in helping out the charity: “Two of our students spent a placement week at Homes Instead in Sawbridgeworth, who organised Santa for a senior. The students wanted to support local rather than national charities this year and they felt that older people were often forgotten at this time of year when the emphasis is on children. The benefit for the students is that they coordinated the collections in College and visited the organisation to deliver the gifts, they found out more about the work the organisation did as well as being able to add this to their CVs”.

Harlow College has also benefited as Ruth explains: “It is excellent publicity for the College as well as strengthening our links with HSC employers”. The campaign has benefited the community so much that every senior within the area will spend their Christmas day with a gift. “Our students collected more than 100 gifts, which I like to think of as one hundred smiles our students have created with their kindness and generosity”.

Story by Level 3 Journalism students Charlotte Langham and Ceile Brown