Residents of Lotus River Place were treated to a visit and care packs from Kirstenhof Primary School’s Interact Club on International Day of Older Persons, October 1.
The group of 23 pupils were led by Senior Santa Shoebox in partnership with Blue Route Mall, their teacher Amy Ingham and joined by Ward 71 councillor, Carolynne Franklin for the visit.
The United Nations General Assembly established October 1 as the International Day of Older People on December 14, 1990 with the aim of honouring the contribution of older persons and looking into the challenges that they face. The day has been observed since 1991. This year’s theme was “Resilience of Older Persons in a Changing World”.
To honour Lotus River Place’s elderly, Kirstenhof Primary collected items and created care packs for the residents. These were presented to each resident together with a handmade wooden box to keep them in. The girls presented the gifts individually and sat and chatted with the elderly. Then sang songs which the residents knew and they joined in with hand clapping, singing and laughter.
Angela Gorman, founder of Senior Santa Shoebox, said: “The interaction was heart-warming, there were smiles all round, and it would be interesting to see who enjoyed it more, the girls or the elderly!”
Lotus River Place staff noted that after such interactions, which are few post Covid, the residents seem far more cheerful, aches and pains are not spoken of and the atmosphere is lighter in the home.
Ansi Kirsten, care operations manager at CPOA Lotus River Place, shared on the Senior Santa Shoebox’s Facebook page: “Thank you to everyone involved on behalf of CPOA Lotus River. The residents enjoyed it so much… Visits like this give them so much joy, especially those who never receive visitors or have no families to spoil them… thank you.”