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Hearts melt and gifts pour in

A plea to the community on behalf of lonely souls brings an avalanche of gifts at Edinborough Healthcare Center.

By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published December 25, 2005

	[Times photo: Douglas R. Clifford]
	Betty Hall is happy with a present she received Friday at the gift giveaway at Edinborough Healthcare Center in Dunedin. People donated presents after a letter to the editor seeking gifts was published. There were so many, residents received about 10 gifts each.

DUNEDIN - It was late November when Evelyn Frank sat down and wrote a letter to the editor.

In it, she said people might feel tapped out after contributing money to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

But please, she urged, open your wallets just one more time.

The older people who lived at Edinborough Healthcare Center in Dunedin were cold and lonely.

"I would like to make a request for all the forgotten elderly citizens who have no family or friends to bring them a present this holiday season," wrote Frank, Edinborough's activities director.

"I would like to ask your readers if they could find it in their hearts to buy just one sweatshirt or one pair of sweat pants and donate it to one of our seniors here at Edinborough Healthcare. It would make them so happy."

Frank's letter ran on Nov. 24. The response was overwhelming. Residents and local businesses donated at least 2,000 presents.

On Friday morning, the gifts were 3 feet deep in the dining room near a Christmas tree with white doves and multicolored lights in its branches. Above, snowflake ornaments hung from the chandeliers.

Patients whose ages ranged from 42 to 101 gathered near the antique piano as Santa made his deliveries. Every resident got about 10 presents.

"God bless America," said one senior after being handed a gift.

Nearby, James Carter, 88, sat in his wheelchair with four gift-wrapped boxes in his lap.

After Santa handed him another, he gently tore it open and a new green sweatshirt spilled out.

"The piles of presents here are something else," he said.

Tears streamed down the face of 87-year-old Bill Tillias.

An aide asked if he was okay.

"I'm crying because I'm happy," Tillias said.

Tillias wore a tan baseball cap with an American flag emblem. He said in his younger days, he had owned a store near the Sponge Docks in Tarpon Springs.

He had several presents stacked unopened on a table at his side. They were just coming so fast. Then Santa brought one more. He opened it. Inside were tan slippers in size 12.

He started to sob.

"I can't stop crying," he said as the aide offered him a handful of tissues. "I've never been to a party like this."

A few steps away, Betty Hall was wearing a new sweater delivered by Santa.

She was one of the youngest patients in the room.

The 55-year-old from Tampa had gotten her shoe stuck in a throw rug and fell down and broke her left hip.

She has lived at Edinborough Healthcare for two years.

Among her presents was a stuffed bear and a plaid fleece blanket.

She said she wanted to thank all the people who had donated the items.

"They are lovely," she said.

As for Frank, the party was better than she ever dreamed.

"The donors, they are wonderful," she said. "They are the greatest people in the world, every one of them."

Eileen Schulte can be reached at 727 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 24, 2005, 23:42:16]