Esperança’s ‘Christmas Angels’ Program Helps Seniors Find Comfort, Community During the Holidays

For many, the holiday season is a time of warmth, joy and family, but for some of Arizona’s older Americans who have lost loved ones, or who lack the resources to visit others, it can also be intensely lonely. Esperança, a nonprofit that provides a wide range of resources for the Valley’s most underserved populations, is looking to brighten up the holiday season for some of the region’s most vulnerable residents through its “Christmas Angels” program and is calling on the community to aid in the effort.

For as little as $50, community members can “Sponsor a Senior” who lives in a Phoenix-area Housing & Urban Development Facility and help ensure that their beneficiary will have a happy, comfortable holiday season spent in the company of others. Sponsorship money will help purchase goods desperately needed by the sponsored senior, and it will also provide the gift of company by giving that senior a chance to attend a holiday celebration with other residents of senior centers from across the Valley. Conversely, generous donors may purchase, and then deliver, some of the most in-demand items needed by Valley seniors of limited means, including blankets and shawls, slippers, lotion and other hygienic products.

Esperança’s goal is to sponsor at least 80 seniors from local HUD housing facilities through its Christmas Angels program. To sponsor a senior or learn how to make an in-person donation, visit Esperanca.org/Christmas-angels2019. To volunteer to help wrap or distribute gifts at a Dec. 11 gift-wrapping party or a Dec. 13 gift exchange and party, email Tiffany@Esperanca.org.