Senior Holiday Gift Bag Program 2021

Senior Holiday Gift Bag Program

Last year, members of our board had the opportunity to help with the senior gift bag program.

Along with the Folsom Athletic Association and students from Oak Ridge High School, we delivered 184 decorated gift bags to a senior apartment community in Folsom. It was a FUN day!!

Picture from 2020 Senior Gift Bag Program.

What is the program?

Our members have the opportunity to participate in the 5th Anniversary of giving to the Powerhouse Ministries Senior Gift Bag Program.

Multiple nonprofits have come together to provide a gift bag to low income seniors throughout the Folsom community. In fact, more than 600 holiday bags were delivered last year. Seniors were extremely grateful; some indicating it was the only gift they would receive that year.

Last year, members of our board had the opportunity to help with the senior gift bag program. We heard from various FAA members that they’d be interested in helping this year.

At our October art demo, we informed those in attendance that there are two ways help this year:

1. Donate a gift bag.
2. Decorate a gift bag.

About 20 people at the October meeting volunteered to buy supplies to fill a gift bag for a senior. There is still plenty of room for others to donate bags as the need is great.

Donate a gift bag.

If you are interested in filling a bag, please let Sandy Hilton know by November 18. We need to know exactly how many seniors we will be able to serve. We will have more bags at the November 18 art demo at 48 Natoma. If you can’t make the November demo, text Sandy and we can arrange where to pick up a bag.

We suggest shopping as soon as possible due to the supply chain problems. $20-$30 can fill a bag nicely. A nice bonus would be to include a small piece of art such as a handmade notecard. It would be also great if you could decorate your bag or add festive tissue paper and ribbons.

View the flyer for more information about the program and a list of “suggested” items you can buy to fill a bag. Quite often, many of these items can be purchased from the dollar stores in town.

Gift bag drop off dates: November 18 or December 9 – art demo at 48 Natoma at 6 p.m.

Bring your filled bag to the November art demo or the December 9 holiday social hour and art demo. If you can’t make either of these dates, contact Sandy to arrange a time to drop off your bag.

Decorate a gift bag.

The bags are plain brown bags and we had fun decorating them last year to make them a bit more festive. If you’d like to help decorate a bag, we will be gathering in the Art Room at 48 Natoma on December 3 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.  Please bring art supplies to assist with the decorations (e.g.  markers, construction paper, glue sticks, etc.).  Please RSVP to Sandy as we are limited to the number people planning to be there.

Best way to reach Sandy – send her at text at 916-335-5332.

Please direct any questions about this program to Sandy Hilton – 916-335-5332.