Valentine card makers give their hearts to OC seniors – Orange County Register

Seniors in assisted living and nursing facilities around Orange County had a heartfelt surprise for Valentine’s Day: handmade cards to wish them a happy holiday.

Volunteers – including the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts team, local students, Laguna Beach attorney Meldie Moore and her staff, and a resident who happened to hear about it on Nextdoor – found craft supplies and made 2,340 valentines. The Council on Aging – Southern California’s Ombudsman sent Hallmark holiday cheers to some of the more than 29,000 seniors living in more than 1,000 facilities around the county.

The effort to spread love stems from Moore’s efforts to make the pandemic more bearable.

“With COVID and how bad things were in September 2020, I just decided to do something to give back,” she said. So she launched a series of projects, one per month, for the staff at her Laguna Beach law firm.

To help small businesses, she gave each of her employees $100 to spend at a thrift store in town. On Thanksgiving, they picked up local nonprofits and made donations. The February theme was Valentine’s Day, so she asked around and within a week had 1,000 handmade cards that she knew the Council on Aging would be able to hand out to those in need. elder.

Libby Anderson, who directs the Council’s inspection program on Aging, said the pandemic has been especially difficult for older people in care facilities, which at times have had to ban visitors and even even lock people in their rooms to avoid spreading the virus.

“It hurts,” she says, and Valentine offers “a way to lift their spirits and make them feel like we haven’t forgotten them.”

Barbara Broese definitely felt missed when Inspector Nancy Bejarano brought her a flower and valentine on Friday. Broese pronounces it “very good” and says she plans to display the card in her room at Whitten Heights Assisted Living in La Habra, where she has lived for nearly 17 years.

Bejarano delivered about 150 cards on Friday and was happy to do so.

“They just have the biggest smiles on their faces for whatever I do,” she said. “They don’t expect to be given anything – you just can’t help but be touched.”

Moore said she and her staff enjoy community projects, which she plans to continue and would welcome anyone who wants to join. Anyone interested in celebrating Valentine’s Day for seniors next year or helping to respond in other ways can email accept@moorelawoc.com.

Photographer Sam Gangwer contributed to this report.