JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Hundreds of seniors living on the First Coast will receive a special Christmas gift this year... but it won’t be delivered by Santa Claus and his reindeer.
Instead, attorneys with the Jacksonville Bar Association and Jacksonville Sheriff’s officers are dropping off presents right to their front door.
Michele Waddell has seen firsthand the financial challenges seniors can face when they stop working.
“I would go to their homes, I would see that their house was darkened," said Waddell, a personal injury attorney and chair of the JBA Holiday Project. "They may have had a small fan [and it] is because they couldn't afford to run the AC during the hot summer days, [and] they were making decisions between whether to have a meal or to afford prescription medications."
As a former insurance agent, Waddell is now one of dozens of attorneys with JBA that will take up the role of Santa Claus for seniors living on the First Coast during the holiday season.
“This partnership is more than just a gift, it connects them with the community," Christopher Mahon with Aging True Community Senior Services told First Coast News. "It makes them feel part of Jacksonville and it makes them feel loved and warm during the holiday season."
250 seniors who are part of Aging True’s Meals on Wheels program will receive presents from local attorneys and JSO officers this year. Seniors were able to fill out wish lists and include things like home appliances, clothing, blankets and other household items on them.
“We look forward to this time of year," Morris Halyard, assistant chief of community engagement with JSO said. "Sometimes, these citizens aren’t able to get out of their houses and when the officers show up with the gifts knocking on the door, it just brings them such a sense of joy."
Part of the goal of the project is to combat senior isolation and to provide a chance for law enforcement and legal professionals to interact with the community.
“A lot of times they don't have family, they don't have friends or anybody that's close by so, you might be their only contact for the day, you may be the only Christmas present that they're going to receive or holiday present that they're going to receive this season," Waddell said. "And so, it means a lot."
