- At Esprit Whispering Ridge on 180th and Maple, Gwen's gift holiday pop-up shop offered memory care residents a way to shop for their loved ones.
- "They can say, 'yeah grandma picked this out for you, or grandpa picked this out just for you and you know, it gives them the opportunity to continue to be engaged with their families."
- Video shows residents shopping and volunteers helping wrap gifts.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
No matter how many gifts you want to give… Gwen's gift offers it all. I'm Jill Lamkins, your Northwest Omaha reporter, here at Esprit Whispering Ridge. Where this holiday pop-up offers an exciting shopping experience for memory care residents.
For five years now, Sandie Yeaman has been spreading joy across Omaha.
"You know a lot of times places bring things in for the elderly and you know, they take it to them and put it under their tree and stuff but this actually gives them the power," said Sandie.
A power, that was inspired by a friend's mother, whose name was Gwen.
Now, Sandie has 30 volunteers who will help hundreds of memory care patients this season.
"They can say, 'yeah grandma picked this out for you, or grandpa picked this out just for you and you know, it gives them the opportunity to continue to be engaged with their families."
This is the third year Gwen’s gift is visiting Esprit at 180th and Maple, where caregivers, volunteers and sometimes even family help residents shop.
"If we know something they like, we'll bring them to that. We'll also tell them that they can pick something out for themselves, which they enjoy," said Kayleen Kappious, the marketing director at Esprit Whispering Ridge.
Did you have fun today?
"Yes," said 92-year-old resident, Claudette Stappert.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Claudette is one of 40 memory care residents at Esprit. This is her second-year shopping at the pop-up shop.
"Well, I suppose to pick out some gifts for (she really emphasizes this) seven children."
She tells me she hopes her seven children like what she picked out for them.
And after Claudette and the other residents picked out what they like, volunteers wrapped the gifts and then...
"We take it to their rooms and then we call their loved ones and say, 'hey, they got a gift for you, come and pick it up,” said Natisha Odjidja, activity director at Esprit Whispering Ridge.
Over the years, Sandie says she's heard from loved ones about what this means to them.
One resident's wife called Sandie and said...
"'I want to thank you for giving my husband the dignity to show me that he still loves me. I collect those and he knew that' and she was in tears over it. I mean that's the memories I want to create for everyone."
Sandie and Gwen's gift will be visiting a couple more memory care facilities before the holidays hit. At Whispering Ridge, I'm Jill Lamkins, your northwest Omaha neighborhood reporter for 3 News Now.
