Notes from the Director

I hope the New Year is off to a wonderful start for all of you! It’s already been quite a busy one for me and my family. Thanks in large part to our wonderful, dedicated volunteers and the hard work of all of the Activities Directors and nursing home staff, we held Wrapping Presence in person in 11 nursing homes and coordinated two catalog programs as well. Our goal is to provide in person programs at all 18 of our regular nursing homes in December of 2024, and who knows, maybe one or two more!

I would like to thank all of the many volunteers who supported and encouraged me through my first year leading Wrapping Presence. I have volunteered in various ways for 15 plus years but taking over such a special organization and carrying on what Marne Dietterich so lovingly started and Cheryl Paradiso so beautifully continued is something I do not take lightly and I look forward to many years together with all of you. Whether you are one of the three women who maintains inventory and pulls gifts and supplies for each day’s nursing home, pull door decorations for each day, led the program on days I couldn’t be there, updated and sent out the volunteer sign ups, designed a door decoration, attended a crafting session, decorated shopping bags, baked delicious home-made cookies, wrote out index cards, drove gifts to and from nursing homes, was a “wrapping buddy”, “shopping buddy”, donated gifts or Holiday cards, made the day of residents by being Santa Claus, or any of the countless other things that make Wrapping Presence work, I thank each of you from the bottom of my heart!! 

As you know Pizzeria Uno closed their doors so we were unable to hold our annual fundraiser. We are looking at other fundraising ideas and will share those as plans are finalized. Ideas are always welcome by emailing me at wrappingpresence@gmail.com. We will also be sending out information regarding crafting sessions in the Spring. If you are interested in becoming a door decoration designer, let me know that too. We are always looking for new members of the Wrapping Presence family.

If you are new to the volunteer efforts of Wrapping Presence, please check out the website and browse the various pages that tell of our story, our wish list, and ways to volunteer with Wrapping Presence.

As always if you have Christmas card front pages (for gift tag creations) or complete cards, written with greetings for the residents, or NEW gifts to donate, they may all be dropped off in the Wrapping Presence box located in the entry to Doylestown Presbyterian Church in Andrew’s Hall.

Wishing all of you the very best!

Candi Young

Early Mother's Day Greetings,

For those of you who are mothers, enjoy every day and for those of you not mothers, either by design or gender, you have or had a mother so toast her. Ten days ago we enjoyed an afternoon of food, fellowship and fun as we gathered for the Spring Fling. Thank you to all those who came to enjoy the event. For those individuals who were unable to join us, we look forward to seeing you at an upcoming crafting event or at one of the nursing homes in late November, early December when Wrapping Presence goes on the road with the program. During the gathering we met new volunteers and rekindled friendships with long time volunteers. A special thank you goes to all 20 bakers who created delicious cookies for everyone to enjoy. You all came through, above and beyond, and your sweet treats were appreciated. I have been able to tuck some away in my refrigerator for the first couple of crafting sessions too! The Wrapping Presence procurement team did a wonderful job obtaining a great variety of gift cards, services and merchandise from many local merchants. The other big thank you goes to the National Charity League (NCL) as there were two teams helping that day. The first team arrived several hours before our start time and were very busy setting up food, displays, and information for everyone's arrival. The second team helped serve, carry out any needs that arose, helped with the raffles and then did a great job with the clean up too. Their service was performed with a smile and the utmost level of responsibility. In the next week I shall upload some photos of the Spring Fling onto the website. If you are just joining the volunteer efforts of Wrapping Presence, please check out the website and browse the various pages that tell of our story, our wish list, and ways to volunteer with Wrapping Presence. www.wrappingpresence.org

The first group of crafting dates are set for the upcoming season: May 24, June 29, July 25 and August 7. Each date has a morning (9:30-12:30) and an afternoon session (1:00-4:00) on the schedule and all sessions will be held at Doylestown Presbyterian Church in the Celtic Cross Room, which is under the sanctuary at the Doylestown Presbyterian Church. Please use the Sign Up Genius link above to sign up for a session or two. It is a time of productivity and catching up with long time friends and meeting new friends. If you have any trouble signing up, please contact me and I shall assist in the sign up process.

As always, if anyone has calendars, Christmas card front pages (for gift tag creations) or complete cards, written with greetings for the residents, or new gifts to donate, they may all be dropped off in the Wrapping Presence box. This box is located in the entry to the Church Offices in Andrew's Hall.

Enjoy each day.
Cheryl Paradiso

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A48ADAA2CAAFF2-crafting
CRAFTING SIGN UPS - CLICK THE LINK

Happy New Year and hope for a healthy 2023. WE and I mean WE, created a successful 2022 season of giving with the Wrapping Presence program. Flexibility and many, many helping hands are key to any success and we were successful in delivering over 2,500 gifts, 4,245 Christmas cards, 385 calendars, 1,171 door decorations, 1,155 baggies of cookies, and smiles to many (just over 1,300) residents. Some of the 19 nursing homes invited the teams to come in, and others requested the catalogue method once again, and three were still very cautious and only accepted door decorations, cookies and cards. The entire program was delivered to everyone in 13 days, but the preparation for those days spanned the better part of 2022. Crafting, basket assembling, gift bag inspectors, white gift bag decorators (school classes, youth groups, scout troops), shoppers, volunteers dropping off donations, Christmas card writers, index card writers, gift wrappers, wrapping buddies, shopping buddies, sleigh drivers, and Santas were hard at work. There are also several community organizations that support Wrapping Presence throughout the year with gifts, candy, helping hands and monetary donations. Thank you to The Encores Club, Kalmia Club, Makefield Women’s Association, National Charity League, and the Warminster Rotary Club. Gratitude is shared by all of the Activity Directors at the nursing homes and by the residents for the kindness and generosity that brightened their holidays. For those nursing homes that opened their doors for an in-person program, it was a joyous time for the residents, staff and volunteers alike who were able to experience the full essence of Wrapping Presence once again. To the Activity Directors, I send a special thank you for the time and devotion to the residents and to filling out the spreadsheets so the information was available to Wrapping Presence volunteers to make the program run more smoothly. Please take a few minutes to check out the photos and letters in the website.

In March and April there will be times for crafting once again to prepare for the 2023 season. Please watch for the next letter with Sign Up Genius links. We are always busy elves preparing to deliver joy and dignity to resident-bound seniors.

Save the Date: Saturday, April 29, Afternoon, at Doylestown Presbyterian Church: SANTA’S SPRING FLING

This year there will be a Spring Fling that will serve a three-fold purpose for Wrapping Presence. It will be a Thank You event, a Recruitment event and the annual Fund-Raising event for the organization. The event will be open to all volunteers and a guest or two with whom each volunteer would like to share the mission of Wrapping Presence. There will be food, fellowship, stories to be told, raffles and a 50/50.

As always, the Wrapping Presence collection box is up and waiting for new gifts, Christmas card fronts, calendars, gift bags, and new gift wrap, bows and tissue paper. Every donation is appreciated and we look forward to seeing many of you at our upcoming crafting sessions and the Spring Fling. Please watch for details and Sign-Up Genius Links.

With deep gratitude,
Cheryl Paradiso

Spring is/was upon us, then there was winter again, and spring is back with us. Before long summer will be here too, in all its splendor. Each season brings about change, renewed energy and new experiences. For Wrapping Presence, each season brings forth new tasks and continued energy from many volunteers and crafting has gotten underway, as has shopping, and planning for the 2022 holiday season. 

Since Spring is having a bit of trouble blossoming out to us this year, let us start first with Summer. This year Wrapping Presence will be gathering volunteers for a Christmas in July celebration and a time of thanks on Wednesday JULY, 20, 2022 at the older Pavilion in Holicong Park 6 to 8:30 pm. 5143 York Rd (Rt 202) Buckingham. There will be activities, socializing, and ice-cream!!! If you have been purchasing gifts, writing cards, collecting calendars or gathering gift bags, there will be a collection box available that evening. An RSVP sign up will come out in early June, but please mark your calendars now. 

Now, back to Spring again, and perhaps the snow squalls are finished now. There will be several upcoming crafting sessions where volunteers will help assemble door decorations and pack them away for the late fall distribution time. Last year we distributed just over 1,000 and this year we will be on target for 1100-1200, so we are anxious to get the process rolling along.

Happy New Year and hope for a healthy 2023. WE and I mean WE, created a successful 2022 season of giving with the Wrapping Presence program. Flexibility and many, many helping hands are key to any success and we were successful in delivering over 2,500 gifts, 4,245 Christmas cards, 385 calendars, 1,171 door decorations, 1,155 baggies of cookies, and smiles to many (just over 1,300) residents. Some of the 19 nursing homes invited the teams to come
in, and others requested the catalogue method once again, and three were still very cautious and only accepted door decorations, cookies and cards. The entire program was delivered to everyone in 13 days, but the preparation for those days spanned the better part of 2022. Crafting, basket assembling, gift bag inspectors, white gift bag
decorators (school classes, youth groups, scout troops), shoppers, volunteers dropping off donations, Christmas card writers, index card writers, gift wrappers, wrapping buddies, shopping buddies, sleigh drivers, and Santas were hard
at work. There are also several community organizations that support Wrapping Presence throughout the year with gifts, candy, helping hands and monetary donations. Thank you to The Encores Club, Kalmia Club, Makefield Women’s Association, National Charity League, and the Warminster Rotary Club. Gratitude is shared by all of the Activity Directors at the nursing homes and by the residents for the kindness and generosity that brightened their
holidays. For those nursing homes that opened their doors for an in-person program, it was a joyous time for the
residents, staff and volunteers alike who were able to experience the full essence of Wrapping Presence once again.
To the Activity Directors, I send a special thank you for the time and devotion to the residents and to filling out the
spreadsheets so the information was available to Wrapping Presence volunteers to make the program run more
smoothly. Please take a few minutes to check out the photos and letters in the website. www.wrappingpresence.org
In March and April there will be times for crafting once again to prepare for the 2023 season. Please watch for the
next letter with Sign Up Genius links. We are always busy elves preparing to deliver joy and dignity to resident-bound
seniors.


Save the Date: Saturday, April 29, Afternoon, at Doylestown Presbyterian Church: SANTA’S SPRING FLING
This year there will be a Spring Fling that will serve a three-fold purpose for Wrapping Presence. It will be a Thank
You event, a Recruitment event and the annual Fund-Raising event for the organization. The event will be open to all volunteers and a guest or two with whom each volunteer would like to share the mission of Wrapping Presence.
There will be food, fellowship, stories to be told, raffles and a 50/50.
As always, the Wrapping Presence collection box is up and waiting for new gifts, Christmas card fronts, calendars, gift
bags, and new gift wrap, bows and tissue paper. Every donation is appreciated and we look forward to seeing many
of you at our upcoming crafting sessions and the Spring Fling. Please watch for details and Sign-Up Genius Links.
With deep gratitude,
Cheryl Paradiso

Labor Day is upon us and I hope this finds you all well after a good, but soggy summer. Families have been able to visit, fresh air walks without masks have been enjoyed, and life has continued for Wrapping Presence. During the summer we were able to have three days of small crafting groups, and our ever-faithful crafting captains also put in many hours creating door decorations for distribution this holiday season. We were also able to gather a small group to sort and assemble our small gift donations to create the ever-popular gift baskets. Other volunteers have been busy writing out Christmas cards which will be collected to distribute to the nursing homes, along with calendars that have been collected. 

Wrapping Presence will not be able to deliver a holiday gift program as we have known it for the first twenty-five years. There will however be a distribution of chosen gifts for nursing home residents to give to their loved ones. As long as visitors are permitted, we will be working with the Activity Departments to help the residents choose gifts from a catalogue that has been created. With the help of two faithful volunteers a catalogue of gifts in our inventory has been photographed and compiled. The residents will choose a gift from it for each loved one and the Activity Teams will get the information back to me. The information index cards will once again be created, and the gifts pulled, wrapped, tagged, and bagged at Doylestown Presbyterian Church. From there they will be delivered to the Nursing Homes, along with the door decorations, cards, calendars, and — if desired — homemade cookies. 

We will have an UNOs FUNDRAISER day on Tuesday October 19, 2021 --- Patio dining, inside dining or pick up is available. Please join us in saying THANKS to UNOs and Supporting Wrapping Presence!!! 

There will be a Sign-up Genius circulating for help with the wrapping, tagging and bagging of gifts.

There will be a Sign-up Genius for Cookie Bakers.

The Fall and December push for Wrapping Presence certainly have taken on a different look for us this year, but we did indeed do what we could to brighten the day for many nursing home residents. This cheer was accomplished thanks to many helping hands. The arms of Wrapping Presence have reached far and wide, as the call for Christmas cards to residents was answered by so many. More than 4,300 cards were collected and divided up between the 1,600 residents of the 16 nursing homes that the Wrapping Presence program serves. The cards were lovingly created by students, written out by Marne herself (who is doing so well), and many other individuals were collected by other church groups and sorted by caring hands. In addition to the cards, there were 573 calendars collected. A group of dedicated bakers each helped to create and bag up 645 bags of cut out cookies that some of the nursing homes requested as a special treat for residents. While ovens were heating, sewing machines and glue guns were also busy creating hundreds of door decorations that were added to last year’s surplus to make a grand total of 923 door decorations distributed. The sleigh (AKA my van) was loaded with all the goodies, and a goodie bag of fruits and sweets for the staff of each nursing home and thus contactless deliveries were made to the nursing homes. The Activity Directors were over the moon with amazement and gratitude that people cared so much about their residents

Welcome to 2020 and the beginning of the 26th year of providing joy and special memories to home bound nursing home residents during the December holidays. Many people, who are just hearing about Wrapping Presence, think it is an organization that comes to life for a few weeks each year during December. We all know better, as we are in elf mode 12 months, year in and year out. This year has gotten off a very unique start and has left our community, our country and the entire world in a turmoil. Hopefully each of you and your families are safe and well. The residents in all the nursing homes we visit have caring, compassionate staff and our thoughts and prayers are the best help we can offer today to lift up to them. Please know we are all in this together and we will come through it together, and stronger. 

As many of you know from our wonderful 25th anniversary celebration luncheon in January, Marne decided to make the 25th anniversary celebration her farewell. We cannot thank her enough for all of her wonderful gifts and love she dedicated to Wrapping Presence since this idea of hers blossomed into the organization we have today. Even though we will all miss Marne’s energy and inspiration, Wrapping Presence will continue on for many years to come and the essence of Marne will be part of every facet of the organization. 

One change you will notice is that due to the size of our caring volunteers, like you, we are going to move some of our administrative tasks into computer technology. This will enable us to speed up communications to all of you. Please know that if anyone does not have internet capability there will still be mail going out and there will be still be some information that is mailed to everyone. The most vital arm of Wrapping Presence is our volunteer core and we will be sure we reach every finger of our volunteer arm. 

Now back to taking Wrapping Presence into the next decade. When you have received this note, we would appreciate, if you are able to, send an email to: wrappingpresence@gmail.com with the following information: 

Name, email address, mailing address, home phone, cell phone, and the year you became a Wrapping Presence volunteer. IF NO EMAIL, CALL MY HOME AND LEAVE INFO ON MY MACHINE 215-766-9399

This will help tremendously in updating our volunteer data base. Thank you. Be safe, be happy, and share a phone call of kindness with one another each day.