More than 30 volunteers, advocates, students and community leaders helped Piedmont Senior Resources Area Agency on Aging (PSR) on Dec. 12 pack more than 500 bags filled with toiletries and household staples for older adults in the region just in time for Christmas.

“Our Santa for Seniors Project is in conjunction with The 2019 Subaru Share the Love Event,” said Director of Transportation and Nutrition Thomas Jordan Miles III, who headed up the project this year, along with PSR’s office staff. “With the help of many volunteers and our staff, we stuffed more than 500 bags with toilet paper, cleaning supplies, dish liquid, laundry detergent, bars of soap, shampoo, lap blankets, canned goods, non-perishable food, toothpaste, tooth brushes and more.”

This is the fourth year PSR has participated in Subaru’s Share the Love Event.

Students and staff from Buckingham County High School volunteered to help pack bags, along with employees of New Century Hospice and members of Ward’s Chapel United Methodist Church, along with other community volunteers.

“We know and have been told that often, this is the only gift they may receive during the holiday season,” Miles said of the Santa for Senior bags.

Over the last 11 years, Subaru of America and its participating retailers have donated more than $145 million to help those in need. By the end of this, the 12th year, Subaru and its participating retailers will have donated over $170 million to help those in need through the Share the Love Event.

“Earlier this year, we partnered with New Century Hospice to hold a food drive for non-perishable items, such as pasta and canned goods, and this resulted in a large volume of donations which is going toward our older adults for Christmas,” Miles said.

Real Living Cornerstone — Navona Hart, along with Alcova Mortgage — Tony Markland, and many other businesses and individuals donated toward the purchase of the items that weren’t donated.

“We had more individual donations of items this year than we have ever before,” Miles said. “That truly shows the willingness our community has to offer a hand up to our most isolated older adults across the seven-county area.”

PSR kicked off The 2019 Subaru Share the Love Event in November, partnering with the Farmville Area Chamber of Commerce to ring in the holiday season with incentives to bring donations and enjoy food and beverages. In early December, PSR held a fundraising effort in partnership with North Street Press Club, not only soliciting monetary donations, but also items that have been packed in the bags.

“We’re so very grateful for all of the businesses, individuals, civic groups, and others who have helped us champion our mission of advocating, advancing and achieving independence for the aging population,” Miles said.

PSR serves the counties of Amelia, Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, Lunenburg, Nottoway, and Prince Edward with home delivered meals, congregate nutrition (friendship cafes), non-emergency medical transportation, homemakers, insurance counseling, and many more services. For more information on PSR, email psr@psraaa.org or call (434) 767-5588.