A Pennsylvania-based organization is making sure nursing home residents who may no longer receive regular visits feel loved through a subscription-based gift program created just for seniors.
“Our main goal was to remind seniors that they have a purpose and they’re not forgotten,” said Holly Masters, co-founder of the Purpose Therapy Box program.
The program was launched in 2018 by Masters and Ali Izzo-Linton, who are both occupational therapy assistants. They hoped to decrease depressive symptoms and loneliness in residents through gift boxes.
Volunteers curate the boxes based on several functional themes, such as cognition, fine motor, strength and self care. Nursing home staff members also create wishlists for residents, allowing the organization to fill each package with personalized items, like photos and messages, and other useful products for residents.
“When we were first doing our clinicals out in the field, we noticed that a lot of seniors didn’t get regular visitors and they didn’t have the means to get these things that we’re sending them,” said Izzo-Linton.
So far, the organization has sent more than 700 boxes to nursing homes across the country. And there’s currently a waiting list of about 20 long-term care facilities across the country looking to get boxes sent to residents in need.
Purpose provides an opportunity for willing sponsors to pay a subscription fee every three months that covers the cost of sending the personalized therapy boxes to residents four times throughout the year.
Their most recent gift boxes were sent last week to residents at the Shepherd of the Valley – Boardman in Ohio.
“We can’t get enough of their smiling faces and we loved fulfilling the wish list their facility sent over,” they wrote on their Facebook page.
We’re sure residents love knowing that their purpose has been fulfilled.
