Saturday is ‘Adopt a Grandparent Day’

Saturday, September 12^th is ‘Adopt a Grandparent Day,’ a day that has been set aside each year to honor South Mississippi’s elderly.

On average, 60 percent of residents in senior care facilities don’t get any visits from friends or family members with even fewer visits this year because of the pandemic.

During an average ‘Adopt a Grandparent Day,’ community members visit facilities and spend the day with local nursing home residents.

While they couldn’t visit seniors this year because of the pandemic, they did manage to create what they call ‘treasure boxes’ which are filled with items intended to lift spirits. ‘Adopt a Grandparent Day’ Founder Kathy Rogers said, “We asked our local school and just individuals to do cards and letters and things like this. This is a set of hands that students did for us and it says ‘I love you’ on here and when they get these they can consider themselves hugged. As a grandmother myself, I know how important it is to get hugs from your grandchildren. So, just the idea that kids would do this that’s going to touch their hearts.”

All week long the ‘Adopt a Grandparent Day’ organization has been handing out these treasure boxes to senior care facilities, expecting to brighten the lives of over 2,200 residents.

There are also photos of the residents and staff receiving the treasure boxes on their Facebook page at ‘Adopt a Grandparent Day.’