Those interested in being donors for Gifts from the Heart can stop by the Newland Post Office, Linville Post Office or Williams YMCA to pick up a heart. Gifts must be returned by the end of the day on Friday, Jan. 20.
For more than three decades, Gifts from the Heart has provided cheer-up baskets and other items to senior citizens in Avery County, providing them a mood booster during the long, cold winter, using trees like this one located at Linville Post Office to help organize the collection process.
Those interested in being donors for Gifts from the Heart can stop by the Newland Post Office, Linville Post Office or Williams YMCA to pick up a heart. Gifts must be returned by the end of the day on Friday, Jan. 20.
Photo courtesy Buffy Clark
For more than three decades, Gifts from the Heart has provided cheer-up baskets and other items to senior citizens in Avery County, providing them a mood booster during the long, cold winter, using trees like this one located at Linville Post Office to help organize the collection process.
AVERY COUNTY — Each year, the community comes together to cheer up senior citizens around the county and show them a little extra love during the winter through a program called Gifts from the Heart.
This year will mark 31 years since Gifts from the Heart began. The initiative’s origins lie in the Geriatric Committee at Sloop Memorial Hospital in Crossnore, and since it began, Gifts from the Heart has shown love to thousands of senior citizens in Avery County. Jean Ray, who is the current committee chair, and Rachel Deal, who passed away last year, started the program, as they saw the need for some sort of community outreach to seniors during the winter. The seniors involved are 55 or older and homebound, with little to no family support, said committee member Buffy Clark.
“Families will come in for Christmas, but then after that, you know, they really don’t, unless there’s a birthday during that time,” Clark said. “Winter is really long up here.”
Local agencies who work with seniors, such as the Avery County Senior Center, Department of Social Services, medical offices or hospice groups, refer names of people who are in need to the Gifts from the Heart committee, Clark said. The committee, which consists of Linda Hanna, Kappie Vance, John Clark, Buffy Clark and Ray, starts asking for names just after Thanksgiving.
This year, there are 192 hearts hung on pink Valentine-themed trees, located at the Newland Post Office, Linville Post Office and the Williams YMCA. Each of those hearts represents a person or couple that was referred to the Gifts from the Heart program, and Clark said that she expects a few more referrals to come in before this year’s initiative ends. Having anywhere from 190 to 200 seniors participate has been par for the course over the past five years, Clark said.
The hearts are completely anonymous, only including the person’s gender and specific needs or requests. Additionally, if the person is diabetic, that will be noted on the heart as well. The hearts are numbered, which helps the Gifts From the Heart committee identify the recipient of the gifts.
Those wanting to participate pick up a heart, write their phone number and the number on the heart down on a log sheet, gather the gifts and return the items back to the location where they originally picked up the heart. Donors should attach the heart to the gift bag or basket as well.
Some seniors are in need of a simple cheer-up basket, which could include items such as bedroom slippers, socks, reading materials, cookies or anything else the person creating the basket sees fit. Other people may have more specific requests, such as lap quilts, sweaters, shampoo or conditioner. The Gifts from the Heart committee tries to get everything back to the agencies that provided the referrals around the first week of February so the seniors can receive their gifts hopefully in time for Valentine’s Day, Clark said. Before the pandemic, Clark and the other committee members would deliver some of the gifts themselves, but they do that much less often now, she said.
“It’s about them feeling love at Valentine’s Day when it’s so cold, and they’ve not had a very good year, and the winter’s been chilly,” Clark said. “It’s just about letting them know that there’s somebody out there who loves them.”
This year, the original deadline for returning presents was Wednesday, Jan. 18, but the committee has extended it to Friday, Jan. 20. For more information, contact Clark at (828) 260-5208 or email giftsfromheartc@gmail.com.
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Thanks to modern technologies, you and more people are reading the Watauga Democrat than ever before. Freedom of the press is essential to preserving democracy: But a free press isn't free. It takes significant resources for Mountain Times Publications' 8 full-time journalists and editors to provide credible, fact-based and ethical journalism in the High Country. So, we are asking you to join our advertisers and print subscribers in supporting local journalism with your dollar. Your financial support will help sustain these services that you use to inform your decisions and engage with your community.
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