Soroptimist International of Williamsburg recently spread some holiday cheer by filling 105 stockings to be distributed at local nursing homes.
The organization, which is dedicated to improving the lives of girls and women through providing volunteer and financial support to local nonprofits and students, packed stockings full of toiletries and other essentials during its December meeting held at the Williamsburg Lodge.
While the group always does some sort of community outreach project during the holiday season, this was the first year Soroptimist decided to focus their efforts on local nursing homes.
For the past several years, members have purchases toys, clothes and other necessary items for children through Colonial Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), but the club decided to switch things up this year.
“With Williamsburg being an aging population, we thought it was a good idea to do something for the nursing homes,” said Sherry Phipps, a member of Soroptimist.
The club reached out to two local nursing homes, Envoy of Williamsburg Nursing Home and Colonial Manor Assisted Living Facility, to inquire as to what kind of items their residents needed or would enjoy and then split the responsibility for purchasing the items among the members.
After the December meeting, the group set up an assembly line of sorts to stuff the stockings with everything from toothbrushes to hand lotions to journals to socks.
Once all 105 stockings were filled, a smaller group of members delivered them to the homes just before Christmas.
“A lot of residents don’t have many visitors this time of year, so we knew it would be really nice for them to receive this extra gift,” Phipps said. “All of our members really enjoyed getting to deliver them and seeing how excited the residents and staff were.”
