The newest program under the Friends Of Newtown Seniors (FONS) umbrella continued its outreach efforts in recent weeks, visiting local residents who live alone, are recently widowed, and/or are otherwise isolated.

The Outreach by FONS grew out of Adopt-A-Senior, which FONS had done for a few holiday seasons. Co-Coordinators Beverly Bennett Schaedler and Ann Durkin say the new project is to continue those efforts year-round. The Outreach formally launched in November, timed to occur just ahead of Thanksgiving. Chrysanthemums and cards with handwritten notes and bags with information about local programs were delivered to homes and some residents of at least one of Newtown’s assisted living facilities.

Heidi Gorman was among those who participated in the first round of deliveries. In a note to The Newtown Bee she said while the woman she approached with gifts was initially surprised, she was also “happy and grateful” to receive the Thanksgiving present from FONS.

Gorman and the woman ended up visiting with each other “for a bit,” Gorman added.

By mid-December Bennett Schaedler and Durkin were coordinating a growing field of volunteers ready to expand The Outreach efforts. When they hosted a midday meeting on December 15, they were also ready to hear about a program led by two FONS Outreach volunteers at another assisted living facility.

Painting Snowflakes

Volunteers Mary Geitz and Terry Tortora visited the memory care unit at Maplewood at Newtown on December 11. They arrived with a pile of wooden snowflake cutouts, acrylic paint, and paint brushes for each resident ready for the morning activity.

Fellow FONS volunteer Sharon Cohen later joined the group, who spent over an hour putting glitter-infused paint on their snowflakes. Geitz and Tortora had put large dabs of red, green, and gold paint on paper plates for the eight residents they met that morning, and gently encouraged them to get creative.

When one resident said she wasn’t doing very well with her paint, Geitz smiled and gently said, “You’re doing beautiful. It’s a nice, sparkly snowflake.”

Tortora later told The Bee that once the paint had dried, the decorated snowflakes were hung on the doors of the residents who had painted them.

December Meeting

When Bennett Schaedler and Durkin hosted a planning session on December 15, they encouraged Geitz, Tortora, and others to share their stories from recent efforts.

While the mission of The Outreach is to deliver joy to others, volunteer Jill Collins offered words of advice during last month’s meeting, echoing what caregivers are often told.

“Remember to take care of yourself after you give of yourself like this,” she said.

Bennett Schaedler and Durkin had also cautioned volunteers that not everyone would be happy to have a stranger appear at their door, especially unannounced. Durkin told The Newtown Bee last month, following the Thanksgiving deliveries, that a few people did not want to open their door to the unplanned guests.

Nevertheless, she said, “We left everything for them.”

Bennett Schaedler said if people answered their doors, volunteers introduced themselves and explained who they were and why they were there. If a door went unanswered or was not opened, “we left the plant and bag” of goodies, she said.

Confidentiality is paramount, both women said. Volunteers are only given the first name and address of someone who has been referred to FONS.

“No phone numbers are given out,” Bennett Schaedler said in November. Once volunteers are given the first name and an address for someone, “we went knocking on the doors. If they answered, fine, we told them who we were, and if not we just left the plant and the bag.”

During the December planning session, one attendee demonstrated how residents are being located for the outreach efforts. The woman told the group she had been watching the homes of a few neighbors who need help. They live alone, they never have any visitors, and their house is in terrible shape, she shared.

“I read about this in the paper and thought ‘Perfect! This is a way to reach them,’” said the woman, who wanted to remain as anonymous as the neighbors she hopes to help.

Others shared similar stories and offered basic contact information to Bennett Schaedler and Durkin for others who may benefit from The Outreach.

The second half of the meeting concerned plans for a visit a few days later to Stone Bridge Center for Health & Rehabilitation. Bennett Schaedler announced 70 people would be met and sung to during the planned visit.

Another round of deliveries to private homes was also in the works. Between those two efforts, 35 baskets would be filled, cards would have notes written in them, and poinsettia plants would be picked up for gifting. A work session to organize everything was scheduled for December 18.

Diane Fraczek was among those planning to be part of the Stone Bridge visits. She arrived at the December 15 meeting with gift bags and myriad items to fill them with, everything from coloring books, pens, and notepads to snacks, scarves, and much more.

“Each bag will be a little different when we start putting them together,” she explained while pulling item after item out of one of her bags. “This is going to be fun. I feel good about going. This will be good for all of us.”

‘A Blessed Day’

Louise Cronin participated in the second round of The Outreach by FONS deliveries, in December.

In a note to The Newtown Bee, she described December 18 as “a blessed day for me.” She had been out to deliver “a special gift to a Newtown senior who may be alone for the holiday,” she said, calling the interaction “a person-to-person opportunity to meet several gracious seniors.”

Cronin said senior citizens invited her into their homes with “a smile and warmth moments before I presented them with fruit baskets to celebrate the holiday.” While she was the one offering the gifts, she said she felt like she received something greater in return.

“Yes, I was the recipient of a joyous feeling,” Cronin said. “The seniors we visited presented me with the gift of warmth.”

To learn more about The Outreach by FONS, to suggest someone who would benefit from a visit, or to donate to its annual appeal, visit friendsofnewtownseniors.org. Donations can be mailed to PO Box 413, Newtown CT 06470; checks should be payable to FONS, with Annual Donation Appeal noted on the memo line.

Beverly Bennett Schaedler can be reached at MSBevToo@yahoo.com, Ann Durkin can be reached at AnnMarieDurkin@yahoo, and messages for either can be left at 203-430-0633.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.