SAN DIEGO — Who says you can't be festive from home and spread some holiday cheer this year, we're making it easy and safe to connect to local seniors.
Just hop on your computer or your smartphone to send the holiday message, maybe some words of support and encouragement or a thoughtful New Year's wish. And we will make sure your letters get to a local senior.
Here's what you need to do: go to cbs8.com/community. Scroll down to the “featured” section and click on Senior Connection -- Connecting with Seniors this Holiday Season.
There are two options. You can send an email to connect@kfmb.com or fill out the simple form. Just type in your message, then click submit.
“I wanted to make the seniors feel happy,” said 13 year old Guinness Flachmeier. He designed a digital card for a local senior and emailed it to us. It says, “May your holiday be filled with beautiful surprises and many more.”
He has this message for seniors. “For them to stay hopeful that this COVID will end and it will get better eventually. So they just have to hang in there,” he said.
He learned about our campaign through his teacher, Corey Boss, at Cesar Chavez Middle School in Oceanside.
“It feels good to be helping out those who are lonely this Christmas,” said 14-year-old Nicole Edelstein. She and her older sister are both Girl Scouts and created colorful homemade cards.
“You don't know who's going to read them, but you just kind of hope, whoever does read it, that it does bring them some joy,” said Alexis Edelstein.
They took pictures of their cards to email to us. We are keeping submission's virtual this year due to the stay-at-home order, and we will take care of printing them out and delivering them to local seniors.
We just love seeing the response from kids, so keep them coming. And we also want to hear from adults. Share a favorite holiday memory, a kind wish for the New Year, or write about how you'll be celebrating the holidays this year. And seniors, you can write to each other, too.
My mom, Lucy, wanted to write a little something, after thinking about her fellow seniors earlier today.
“I was thinking… what if people are only by themselves, have no children, or maybe they live far away,” she said.
She wrote a letter sharing what she’s looking forward to doing again in 2021 and what she's grateful for today. “Look how beautiful San Diego is. The sun is shining and a blue sky with a little clouds. It’s so beautiful. Go outside and enjoy life!,” she said. And what she means by that is that just 10 minutes in the backyard, is good for the mind and soul.
We thank all of you for participating in helping us spread joy. Just a few minutes of your time could make for a special moment or memory for a senior spending the holidays alone. We really appreciate your support. Happy holidays!