Besa aims to pair Secret Santas with over 2,000 senior citizens in annual Adopt A Senior project
Columbus, Ohio — Hundreds of Secret Santas will provide $100,000 in gifts and priceless cheer to over 2,000 local senior citizens this holiday season as part of Besa’s Adopt A Senior program. The annual holiday gift drive, which invites community members to spread joy by becoming Secret Santas for fixed-income seniors, kicks off November 1.
The program began in 2012, when Besa rallied a handful of Secret Santas to buy $240 in gifts for 26 senior citizens through Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging’s Holiday Gift Drive. Since then, Besa’s Adopt a Senior drive has evolved into the nonprofit’s largest annual project. In nine years, the program has enlisted thousands of Secret Santas who have provided over 8,300 seniors with over $430,000 in gifts.
By the end of this benchmark year — the program’s 10th — it should have provided over 10,000 seniors with over $500,000 in gifts. For the past two years, all seniors have been adopted within four hours of the list going live.
“We hear from people all year about Adopt A Senior. We hear from community members about how much they look forward to the program. We hear from our nonprofit partners about how important the program is to their clients. And we hear from seniors about their excitement,” said Besa CEO Matthew Goldstein. “This program has become a big part of Besa and the community. And in this tenth year, we plan to serve more seniors than ever.”
While Adopt a Senior continues supporting seniors through the COAAA program, it also supports seniors at At Home By High, Clintonville Resource Center, Gladden Community House, Homeport and National Church Residences.
Community partners helping make this program possible include Big Lots Foundation, Humana, The Center for HumanKindness at The Columbus Foundation, and the Nina West Foundation.
Volunteers can sign up to be Secret Santas beginning Nov. 1 at www.givebesa.org.
Each Secret Santa receives a wish list from a local senior citizen. Secret Santas then purchase and wrap gifts. Secret Santas will drop off their gifts to Besa elves through a contactless delivery system in early December. Each partner agency will then safely distribute gifts to their seniors.
Since launching in 2012, Besa has rallied 56,000 corporate and individual volunteers to give 135,000 hours on 9,700 service projects and has made $45M in community impact.
Besa is a Columbus nonprofit dedicated to supporting those who need it most by connecting people and businesses with local charities, from food pantries to homeless shelters. Besa offers a portal at www.givebesa.org where Columbus residents can easily find and register for volunteer opportunities citywide; it hosts drives for various nonprofits; and it helps corporate partners manage and enhance their philanthropic efforts. For more, visit www.givebesa.org.
CONTACT
For questions about Adopt a Senior, please email adopt@givebesa.org.
