Be a Santa to a senior

Residents may purchase a gift to be given to a local needy senior citizen in the Be a Santa to a Senior program.

The area office of Home Instead Senior Care, the world's largest provider of non-medical home care and companionship for older adults, has partnered with Simi Valley Senior Center, Thousand Oaks Senior Center, Oasis Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services, Camarillo Health Care District, Area Agency on Aging, Disabled American Veterans, Hospice of the Conejo and Moorpark Senior Center to provide presents to seniors who otherwise might not receive a gift this holiday season. The participating nonprofit

organizations have identified needy and isolated seniors in the community and provided those names to Home Instead Senior Care.

Christmas trees with ornaments containing the first names of the needy seniors and their respective gift requests have been set up in the following locations: Wal-Mart, 255 Cochran St. in Simi Valley; Atria Las Posas Assisted Living, 24 Las Posas Road in Camarillo; Strathearn Historical Park, 137 Strathearn Place in Simi Valley; Simi Hills Gracious Retirement Community, 950 Sunset Garden Lane in Simi Valley; Sunrise at Simi Hills, 5300 E. Los Angeles Ave.; and Cypress Place Senior Living, 1200 Cypress Point Lane.

Holiday shoppers may pick up an ornament, buy items on the list and take the unwrapped gifts and the ornament to the store. Volunteers will collect, wrap and distribute the gifts to the seniors.

A citywide gift-wrapping day, when hundreds of the presents will be wrapped, will be at Simi Valley Senior Center from 4 to 8 p.m. Tues., Dec. 12.

Last year, 6,000 volunteers distributed gifts. In two years, Home Instead Senior Care has helped provide more than 200,000 gifts to 122,000 seniors.

To volunteer to help on the citywide gift-wrapping day, call Reid at (805) 5770926. Businesses may also call about adopting groups of seniors.