Home-bound seniors to get ‘Basket of Love’

Seniors play Bingo at the Center for Seniors during the Friday morning game slot on Aug. 17.

By Jessica Johnston, Assistant News Director
November 20, 2018

The Muskingum County Center for Seniors serves many of the community’s elderly population, including almost 600 seniors who are bound to their homes.

Monday through Friday, those nearly 600 seniors are delivered a hot meal, ready to eat, right to their door. The Center for Seniors prepares meals each day and drivers deliver the meals at lunchtime.

Every holiday season for many years, the Center for Seniors has delivered a “Basket of Love” to home-bound seniors that are involved in the hot lunch program, just a small gift to let people know that someone cares.

“To a lot of the seniors, it doesn’t matter what we give them, it just matters that somebody is thinking of them,” Becky Bruce, the MCCS Support Services Director, said.

The Center for Seniors partners with Catholic Social Services who has been doing the “Basket of Love” for about 17 or 18 years.

Bruce, who has been with the center for eight years, has been heading up the program ever since she started. Back when she first came to the center, she said they could only choose four or five seniors from each meal route to receive a basket. Now, every senior involved in the lunch program gets a basket for Christmas.

“As the years have went on, it was my goal to try to get something for everybody,” Bruce said. “So, in the last few years, we’ve been able to accomplish that.”

Some area businesses, like Dollar General, and personal donations have aided in making that goal possible for Bruce through donations.

“It’s important for them to know that somebody is thinking of them and that they’re important to somebody,” Bruce said. “Because, for some of our seniors, (they) don’t have family or their family ties have been cut or they just don’t have those relationships. So, our meal route drivers are the only people that they might see throughout the day.”

Donations can be brought to the Center for Seniors from 8 a.m to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday until Saturday, Dec. 15. Monetary donations are also accepted. The baskets will be delivered in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Donation items can include: