Take it from the people who work with them every day, there are a lot of lonely seniors out there. That's why the people at Home Instead, return with their Be a Santa to a Senior every year. And every year the call is answered.

Janine Karlsen heads up the Kelowna Home Instead. It's a company that offers care services to elderly people. Every year, at this time, they run a program that reaches out to generous members of the public to help bring a little Christmas into the lives of seniors. 

In the Okanagan, that means teaming up with London Drugs. That's where you will find a Christmas tree decorated with cards with the names of individual seniors and suggestions for suitable gifts for them. Home Instead gathers up the names and the rest of the information by reaching out to various other organizations, but the rest is up to the public. It never ceases to amaze Karlsen how people are so quick to step up and help. "It's remarkable," said Karlsen. "The Okanagan community has been supporting this program in such a dramatic way."

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"Even as we've been standing here today somebody picked a tag," she added,  "and somebody was bringing back a present to drop-off."

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From there, Home Instead, picks up the purchased gifts and makes sure they get to the senior they were intended for. This year there will be over 900 of them will go back to the groups who came forward with the names in the first place. "Some people give it right away, and some will wait for Christmas Eve to make it a surprise," explained Karlsen. 

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Seniors can often end up feeling lonely and isolated, which makes this effort all-the-more important.

"Sometimes it can seem like such a small thing," she said. "but it can make all the difference."

The program is well underway and continues at participating London Drugs stores up and down the Okanagan Valley until December 13.

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