Mid-morning on December 16, staff members of Lakeside Beikirch Care Center began rolling carts into the lobby. There was anticipation of Santa’s truck arriving from the College at Brockport with presents for each of the 120 residents. The truck arrived, followed by ten employees of BASC, the Brockport Auxiliary Services Corporation. Boxes of presents with residents’ room numbers were carried in and placed on carts for their designated floor. BASC and LBCC recreation staff started off to all three floors to visit each resident with gifts.
Compassion and coordination from employees at The College
At the College, BASC employees provide all food services, the book store, parking services and other support. Jean Gillman, BASC executive administrative assistant, heads the Christmas project. She explained why the 150 employees are so enthusiastic about giving to the LBCC residents. “Many of our employees have grown up in this area and have had family or friends as residents in Beikirch,” Gillman said. “It’s close to our heart. Our employees look forward to it every year.”
The project by BASC is in its fourth year at Beikirch. Following extensive procedures, it begins in early November, when the employees of BASC are under way with making lists, then shopping for and wrapping presents. The presents are first suggested by LBCC staff who know the residents. Gillman and Nancy Duff, LBCC recreation director, go over the lists to finalize them. The lists are sent to BASC employees. Tickets with residents’ first names and suggested presents are provided.
“Our people enjoy taking a couple of names (tickets) and shopping for them,” Gillman said. Presents were turned in by December 5 this year. “Then, a few elves in the office helped me bag everything in tissue paper and make new tags for them.”
This year, special hand-made gifts were included for each resident. Last year BASC employees began making crafts on Saturday mornings. “It was so popular, they wanted to do it again this year,” Gillman said, “but this time to make presents for the LBCC residents. Especially for our members who could not get a gift, this enabled them to provide one.” In each bag was a hand-crafted ceramic tile coaster. Also, about 40 snow men made from socks, stuffed with rice and corn, were used to complete some gift bags. “It’s a community thing for sure, and everybody loves it and gets into it,” Gillman said about this Santa’s workshop.
Kimberly Klinetob, administrator for LBCC, expressed appreciation for the devoted work by BASC in the Christmas project. “We are so grateful for their generosity, time, resources and their hearts,” she said. “The residents are grateful too; it is very sweet to see the looks on their faces when opening a gift.”
Nancy Duff commented on the success of the gift-giving that morning. “It went like clockwork, running very smoothly for up to an hour-and-a-half, depending on the chatting in the rooms between the residents and college staff,” she said. “My sincere thanks to the College (BASC) for all their hard work and compassion, and for their dedication in making this happen every year.”
A secret Santa on Christmas morning
Early Christmas morning brought more gifts from a secret Santa and the work of the LBCC staff. It’s a tradition that goes back many years, according to Duff.
Lakeside Beikirch resident Audrey Van Roo awakened Christmas morning to find a special Christmas gift just for her. She is one of the 120 residents who received a gift selected especially for them, donated by an anonymous benefactor. Photo by Dianne Hickerson
Making gift lists and shopping is done by the Recreation Department staff. First, they place a list of all residents on each floor, allowing other staff, nurses and nurse assistants, to suggest types of gifts for each resident.
The completed lists are used by the Recreation Department staff to shop for gifts in between their regular tasks. Nancy Duff says the shopping takes about five hours for the majority of the gifts, “counting travel and getting everything in a safe room until we wrap and label them.”
When the Recreation staff cashes out the presents in the store, they are met by the secret Santa who pays the bill. The person, who wants to remain anonymous, also has been a volunteer at LBCC for three years and at Lakeside Hospital many years before that. As a secret Santa, the volunteer said, “I am happy to be in the background.”
Wrapping and labeling is a major endeavor, Duff says, “as this is done around the routine activities and paper work the Recreation team has.” All the efforts culminate on Christmas Day, when the nurses and nurse assistants greet the residents with gifts, as they awake.
Reflecting on all the people involved in both gift-giving events at LBCC, Duff said: “With all the hardships we see in the daily news, it is so refreshing to see our community come together in the ‘Spirit of Love’ for the Christmas season.
