How We Helped Create a Better Holiday Through Mobile Meals

By Kari K.

Over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, volunteer drivers for Mobile Meals handed out over 1400 Christmas gifts stuffed full of warm blankets, crossword puzzles, and hand-sewn placemats. Members of the Knoxville community, including many from Westside, contributed to these bags full of helpful, cozy, or personal care items. Hand-drawn cards from local schools and families were also slipped in to remind seniors that we were thinking of them and cared for them this Christmas morning.

Westside volunteers at the Mobile Meals holiday gift wrapping event.

Mobile Meals has been doing senior gift drives for many years, but this year was their most successful yet, proving that in the toughest times, people come together to support each other. We spent the week stuffing, organizing, and wrapping gifts, labeling each one and placing them in large bags to go along with drivers giving out Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals. An operation of this size takes so many hands, and we were thankful to grab a few of those helping hands from Westside.

As we were blown away by the sheer abundance of the gifts we were able to give away this year, I contemplated how much a Christmas gift is more than the items contained within. I spoke to so many of you who donated about how you chose your items and why. You told me your thoughts as you shopped: "Would this scarf be too itchy? I'll buy this softer one." "This is my favorite lotion for when my hands are dry." "I bought these same socks for my mom when she was in the hospital after she fell."

You treated the unknown recipients of these gifts like your own family, and our volunteer drivers reported a great deal of excitement and gratitude for these presents. I greeted one of my regulars the week after Christmas showing off her new houseshoes, a shiny new ear-marked crossword puzzle book beside her armchair. Each present contained the thoughts of those who donated and those who volunteered. So many people came together this holiday season to tell each other that they were not alone.

It is difficult sometimes to understand the magnitude of the little things we do each day to change each other's lives, but I was certainly eye-witness to how all of you pitched in and made a bigger difference than you can imagine. Thank you.