StoryPoint Chesterton, an independent senior living community, is doing something special for its seniors this holiday season. StoryPoint Chesterton is putting together a survival kit for their seniors. For safety reasons during COVID-19, the event will be a drive-through event.
The event will be hosted on Thursday, December 17 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., and it will be held by StoryPoint Chesterton and Dunes Hospice. To maintain safety precautions during the pandemic, the seniors have not been able to see family members or friends.
“In my daily interaction with seniors, I would say that, across the board, all of them are struggling to some degree,” said Jeannie Nowarita, a community specialist at StoryPoint Chesterton. “For some, that's worse than others, but I would say they are universally struggling with not getting to see their family and their loved ones.”
Because of this lack of interaction with their loved ones, Nowarita wanted to create a way to bring the seniors some holiday cheer.
“Mainly, I wanted to put together a little goody bag of things that I thought would be something that would make them smile, keep them active and busy in some way, or just pamper them,” Nowarita said.
The goody bag includes items such as lip balm, hand sanitizer, word searches, crossword puzzles, pens, stress balls, and a meal coupon.
“We have a mail delivery coupon from our StoryPoint Chesterton executive chef, who is phenomenal,” Nowarita said. “It's going to be a meal for two with an appetizer, main dish, and then a dessert that we will deliver to them to their home at some point in the 30 days following Christmas.”
Nowarita also explained that they would be providing the seniors with special, handmade holiday cards so that the residents could send letters to their families.
“We have some different companies that are actually making and handwriting Christmas cards for the residents this year,” Nowarita said. “I just think that is the coolest thing because in the past, their families may have visited and brought things, and now they can't do that. I think the written word is becoming a lot more meaningful and a lot more of a prominent method of communication for people now.”
Nowarita expressed that StoryPoint Chesterton would be doing their best to fully protect the seniors and themselves during this event.
“It's going to be as safe as it can possibly be. It's going to be outdoors, and the seniors will drive through,” Nowarita said. “We have asked the seniors that are coming to wear a mask in the car when we come up to them. We will have on masks and face shields.”
To learn more about StoryPoint Chesterton, visit them at https://www.storypoint.com.