Be A Santa To A Senior 2024!

A group of smiling seniors sit around a table holding gifts, with a “Reserved” sign in front. - Home Instead

We are thrilled to share the overwhelming success of our Be A Santa To A Senior (BASTAS) campaign for 2024. For those who may not know, each year we work with local businesses, schools and charities to organise and give gifts and cards to those who may be lonely at Christmas across our community in Swindon and the Vale of White Horse. 2024 saw our 6th year of spreading cheer and we thank everyone who donated either funds, gifts or time to ensure we could make this happen. The campaign is led by Cat, our Community Engagement Officer, and we must thank her especially for organising and coordinating everything so brilliantly. In total we gave out a whopping 170 gift parcels, and we’ll share our journey of the whole campaign below!

Firstly, a huge thank you to all the schools and nurseries who donated items:

Abbey Meads Primary School, Shaw Ridge Primary School, Shaw Ridge Pre School, Bridlewood School Swindon, The Cottage Nursery Watchfield, Broad Hinton Primary School, Oliver Tomkins Primary School, Holy Family Primary Swindon, Stanford in the Vale Pre School, Swindon Academy Beech Road, Swindon Academy Alton Road, Rodbourne Cheney Primary School, St. Hugh’s Preparatory School, Wantage C of E Primary School.

A group of children and an adult stand smiling with cards and gifts in front of a school welcome sign. - Home Instead
cottage nursery and stanford pre school - Home Instead
Bridlewood School - Home Instead

We also want to thank some local businesses and organisations.

Checkmore Ltd of Shrivenham Hundred Business Park donated funds to us to support the campaign – this was really appreciated so we could wrap everything and provide everything we needed for our party (keep reading!). We also had donations from Asda West Swindon, Asda Orbital Swindon and Tesco Extra Ocotal Way. Also a huge thank you to Swindon Big Knit who made us over 300 knitted items, including chocolate orange covers!

Smiling woman by a Christmas tree holds a basket of donations and a Tesco sign supporting the local community. - Home Instead
Asda - Home Instead
A group of smiling women and an elf hold festive knitted items; close-up of colorful Christmas knits. - Home Instead
Christmas-themed knitted decorations and toys are displayed on a table at a festive craft fair. - Home Instead

The office team had a great time dressing up Christmassy and wrapping our gifts and parcels up!

Four people in festive sweaters and hats smile holding gifts, standing by a table of donated food and supplies. - Home Instead
Three smiling women in Santa hats hold gifts while standing together in a festive office setting. - Home Instead

….and it was time to start giving them out!

A massive thanks to The Well Church, Abbey Meads in Swindon who, as well as donating gifts very generously, also hosted a party for us on 14th December with their brilliant volunteers. Swindon Seniors Forum were invited as well as members of Swindon Carers Dementia Peer Support Group, and other local seniors. Gifts were handed out to 45 people. It was a delightful day and we had a blast!

People wearing party hats sit at decorated tables in a hall with a wooden ceiling, enjoying a festive meal. - Home Instead
Table with Christmas lights, gifts, and a teddy bear; another set for tea with crackers and snacks. - Home Instead

We also handed gifts out to those attending our Roves Farm Friendship Café and our Companionship Café in Stanford in the Vale.

A group of smiling seniors holding gift bags sit around a table marked "Reserved" in a festive setting. - Home Instead
An elderly man in a reindeer sweater sits beside a smiling woman, holding a wrapped gift at a festive gathering. - Home Instead

There were some gifts provided to some of our own clients that would be lonely this Christmas, and we also donated gifts to Dementia Oxfordshire. To round things off, we donated 78 chocolate oranges (lovingly in our knitted chocolate orange covers from Swindon Big Knit!) to Alone at Christmas which is a project run by Christchurch Swindon where lonely people attend for a meal on Christmas Day.

Boxes of Terry’s Chocolate Orange stacked on shelves and held by a smiling woman in a red sweater. - Home Instead

We at Home Instead Swindon and Vale of White Horse wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!