Dalton — With the holiday festivities in full swing, there are many opportunities for Berkshire residents to make celebrations brighter for the community’s citizens, and those contributions usually extend to children and families. However, one local police department has taken the charitable vibe of the season a bit farther.
For the past seven years, with the help of the Dalton Police Department, Craneville Place Rehabilitation and Skilled Care Center has hosted a December celebration, “Santa for Seniors,” complete with the “Big Guy” showing up with gifts for its residents.
Located in Dalton, the facility provides both short-term rehabilitation and long-term care.
The event is the brainchild of Dalton Police Chief Deanna Strout, who created the program when she was a patrol officer with the department. Strout, a lifelong resident of the town, had an aunt who lived in Craneville Place, and the two were very close, with Strout visiting her daily. “When I visited her, I started noticing [the residents on her floor] weren’t getting visitors, some of them, not all of them,” she said. “Around the holidays, there was a little tree where the staff could pick leaves off the tree to get residents a gift. What was happening was sometimes the staff couldn’t afford to get the residents a gift and they just wouldn’t get a gift for Christmas—they wouldn’t get any visitors. It hurt my soul and I said, ‘never again.’”
Working with Craneville Place administrators, Strout began collecting gifts for the home’s residents, such as puzzles, coloring books, lap pillows, lotions, and soaps, items “we take for granted but for them it was kind of special.” The tradition has continued and expanded to include gift cards to local pizza restaurants, since ordering a personal pizza is a treat for the residents, as well as Netflix gift cards, she said.
The presents are then given out by Santa at a holiday party. “So many of our community members have been unbelievably generous with this [project],” Strout said, adding that donors aren’t restricted to the town’s borders. “Everyone gets gifts, and it’s my favorite holiday tradition. We’re lucky we have a community that’s so supportive.”
She said some of the recipients are “so surprised that someone bought them a gift, that they were thought of during the holidays.”
Donations are being accepted through December 15 for this year’s program, and unwrapped contributions can be dropped off at the Dalton Police headquarters, 462 Main Street, Dalton. Some suggestions are listed on a virtual sign up site.
The department also hosts a holiday program geared for children, “Letters to Santa,” that enables youngsters to drop off letters to Santa in a designated box and receive a response. “We do a little bit for children as well, but sometimes the elderly get forgotten during the holidays, so this is our way of including a different portion of our community,” Strout said.
Requests for comment from Craneville Place were not returned by press time.
