Home Instead Senior Care(R), the world's largest provider of companionship and home care services for aging adults, will deliver 100,000 gifts to seniors in time for the Holiday Season

OMAHA, Neb., Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 7,500 professional caregivers and community volunteers of all ages will deliver 100,000 gifts to lonely and needy seniors between December 12th and 19th.

"This community service program, 'Be A Santa to A Senior,' was started by Home Instead Senior Care to provide a practical and emotional boost to seniors who may otherwise be forgotten during the holidays," says Paul Hogan, president and founder of Home Instead Senior Care (HISC), the world's largest provider of non-medical home care and companionship for the elderly. "Many seniors have family members scattered across the country or no family at all, making it difficult to share in the festivities. Nobody should be forgotten during the holiday season."

The 2005 Be A Santa to a Senior(R) effort proved to be more successful than predicted. Thanks to the 5,000 volunteers and 1,000 retail partners associated across North America, Home Instead Senior Care will deliver 100,000 gifts to 60,000 seniors just in time for the holiday season. "We feel very strongly about this community service program and are happy that we exceeded our goals for this year," expresses Hogan. "There's nothing like seeing the joy and happiness we bring to so many seniors who are lonely, isolated and often forgotten during the holiday season."

Home Instead Senior Care offices in the United States and Canada are participating in the program, partnering with local non-profit organizations to identify lonely, isolated or needy seniors in their communities. Each senior provided a practical wish list of two or three gifts, which was then placed as an ornament on a Christmas tree located within a local, partner's retail store. "Retail patrons and members of the community were asked to purchase and donate the gifts on the wish lists and to leave the unwrapped gifts under the tree in each store," explains Hogan.

Now that the gifts have all been collected and wrapped, volunteers across America spend the week of December 12-19th making the deliveries in time for the holidays. "Many volunteers of all ages are donating their time to help personally deliver the presents to the seniors just in time to spread a bit of holiday cheer," adds Hogan.

Home Instead Senior Care is a private company that was established in 1994 to help meet the non-medical needs of the elderly. Services are provided in North America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The company employs more than 30,000 CAREGivers(SM) in North America alone who delivered an estimated 20 million hours of eldercare in 2005. Training includes a multiphased caregiving and safety curriculum that features case studies, information about senior illnesses, stimulating activities, nutritional recipes for seniors, tips for coping with stress, and an Alzheimer's training program for advanced CAREGivers. Special attention is given to matching CAREGivers with clients to achieve the utmost compatibility.