Photo caption: A group of women from the Silver Sneakers program at James P. Gills YMCA delivered handmade blankets, shawls and slippers to patients at the Gulfside Center for Hospice Care for the Christmas season. Pictured left to right: (back row) Glenda Hunter, Shirley Colligan, Arlene Kovacs, Sylvia Mencik, Nancy Bassous, Karen Patterson, Joann Lary, (front row) Lori Fridy, and Valerie Fryer.
The holidays are a little bright for some patients at Gulfside Hospice this holiday season thanks to the Silver Sneakers group at the James P. Gills YMCA.
The avid knitters of the group put together bags of more than 60 handmade blankets, shawls, and slippers for the patients. After a small breakfast this week, some of the group’s members, along with the program coordinator Lori Fridy, stopped by the Jasmine Retirement Home in New Port Richey to deliver some hand-made blankets, shawls and slippers to the residents there at the time. The remaining gifts were given to patients at the Gulfside Center for Hospice Care, as well as taken to other hospice patients in their homes.
“It was so sweet of them to take the time to do this for our patients, especially during the holiday season,” said Sylvia Mencik, Transition Liaison at Gulfside Hospice. “It’s the little things like this that can truly brighten the patients’ days and bring a smile to their face, and that makes all the difference.”