“One of our task force members is a teacher at Horace Mann Elementary and offered to have the students create Valentine’s for the residents of Springfield Manor to insert into the goodie bags the task force would be putting together,” Ryan Ray, task force president, said.
The goodie bag items, which were purchased by task force members, include pens, Chapstick, Kleenex, word search books, Valentine’s candy, and handcrafted Valentine’s cards.
“We wanted to involve children in this Valentine’s Day ‘love letter’. We want the kids to see our seniors as worthy of our love, time and resources. Our hope is that as they mature, they will only grow in adoration for our senior citizen population, finding creative and relevant ways to lavish love on them,” Ray said.
The Valentine’s Day goodie bags will be handed out to each Springfield Manor resident on Monday.
“This will only further our message to them that they matter and that they are loved deeply,” Ray said.
Students at Lagonda Elementary School also made Valentine’s cards for the residents as well.
The task force, which now has 180 members after starting with roughly 50, was created in 2021 by Ray, the Springfield Salvation Army development director.
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