Easter gift bags for seniors

SPARTA  With the celebration of the great feast of Easter just days away, kindhearted Confirmation candidates found a way to bring Easter joy to senior citizens confined to local nursing homes during the pandemic. At Our Lady of the Lake Church here, the teenagers teamed up with the parish’s “Adopt-a-Family” ministry for a special parish-wide project.

The parish community collected items for Easter bags, which were given to three area nursing homes — Homestead, Knoll View, and Andover Nursing Home. In total, the parish was able to make 200 bags. The gift bags were blessed by Deacon Jim McGovern at a recent youth gathering.

Some of the items that filled the bags included socks, lip balm, cookies, crackers, snacks, and Easter candy. Some baskets also included $5 gift cards to Walmart or Dunkin’ Donuts to provide caregivers some funds to purchase additional items such as coffee or hand cream.

Allison Ognibene, coordinator of youth ministry at the parish, said, “Service projects like this are a great way to give back. It was simple for us to meet at the parish to make the bags and it got the entire parish involved.”

Due to the pandemic, seniors living in nursing homes have had very limited contact with loved ones and the “outside world.” Because of this the parish really came together to collect the requested items for the seniors.

Once the items were collected, teenagers in the Confirmation program, along with adult volunteers, put the Easter bags together. Some of the teens wrote notes for the seniors to remind them that someone was thinking about them during the Easter season.

“During the pandemic, we have been thinking of ways to still engage the youth,” Ognibene told The Beacon. “During Christmas, we sang Christmas carols outside one of the nursing homes, and did something similar with Christmas gift bags.”

The young people have continued to gather on Mondays for youth group meetings. During the meetings the young people enjoy fellowship and food, talk about faith, pray, and then participate in an activity or games and help to plan outreaches like the Easter bags.

In addition to the bags for the seniors, Easter baskets were made for the nurses and health care aides who work at the nursing homes. “It was our way to remind them that we are thinking of them too,” said Ognibene.

The youth ministry at Our Lady of the Lake encompasses many areas including its Confirmation program and service projects. It is currently preparing for its annual retreat with young people making up the retreat team. The youth at Our Lady of the Lake Parish are also involved in the parish through its liturgies as members of the choir or serving as lectors, cantors, and ushers.

While the young people enjoyed the activity of making the baskets, Ognibene said, “We had a moment in the church to remind the young people why we are doing this. It was beautiful to witness the young people see the bags be blessed and see how the community came together to give to those in need.”