Sending Love organisation calls on Kiwis to send Christmas cards to lonely elderly

Lindsay Upton from Manukau East Council of Social Services (MECOSS)

Christmas Day is a time for celebration, friends and family -- and usually eating too much!
However, thousands of elderly people living in aged-care-facilities around New Zealand will spend Christmas Day alone this year because they don’t want to be seen as a burden, because their families have moved away, or because they don’t talk to their children anymore.
It is heart-breaking to think of our senior-citizens’ sitting on their own, hidden away, while the rest of the nation is enjoying themselves.
The Sending Love organisation is determined to forward 16,000 Christmas cards to occupants in rest-homes.
So far about 3000 cards have been received and the organisation is working with the New Zealand Aged Care Association to determine how many people
will benefit from them.
Drop-boxes have been placed around Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill, Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga, Napier and Matamata.
Manukau East Council of Social Services (MECOSS), has set up a drop-box in the foyer of the All Saints’ Community Centre, located at 30 Cook Street, Howick.
Delivery may be made between 8:00am and 4:30pm from Monday to Friday, until Thursday, 14 December.
Unfortunately, isolation is a huge issue and this can be acutely felt if you’re alone on Christmas Day; missing being with family and friends.
There’s no better time to send love.
Let’s show older people we do care!