Bristol County Probate & Family Probation Employee Makes Sure
Local Elderly Are at Top of Christmas List

Most people associate Christmas with children and toys. Sadly, the elderly are not always at the top of the list during this season of giving.

Bristol Probate & Family Probation Employee Gloria Arruda hopes to change that with the launch of a charity drive that will provide grocery gift cards to needy New Bedford senior citizens who are struggling to make their social security checks last.

“Everyone concentrates on children this season which is a good thing. However, the elderly are the forgotten. Many have little or no family and are just so happy to see a face. But I found that the one thing they want and can use the most are food cards,” said Arruda. “They save them and use them sparingly. In February, they still have them and buy food.”

Arruda, a Probation Operations Manager, approached Coastline Elder Services and asked Coastline’s Executive Director Charles Sisson for the names of the agency’s 25 most neediest senior citizens in the area. She is hoping to collect enough Stop & Shop grocery cards and/or monetary donations to purchase grocery cards for the elders on the list and to have cards or money left over to help other elders in the Greater New Bedford area.

Sisson said of Arruda’s effort, “There is a real need. There are so many people who are hungry. At this time of year, elders are feeling the pressure of gift giving and the need to make their social security checks stretch. These gift cards are the perfect way to help them get through the month.”

Sisson said Coastline serviced 7,000 senior citizens in the Greater New Bedford area last year by providing homemakers (employees to help with cooking and cleaning), money management, and legal services. The agency also assisted elders who were abused or neglected.“

The largest growing population of the elderly are those who are 85 years old or older. They have outlived their retirement money and outlived their spouses. They have been retired for 20 years and have not collected a paycheck. This grocery card drive during the holidays is a great way to address their most basic of needs, food,” said Sisson.

Arruda, a 32-year Probation employee, has organized holiday charity drives for the past nine years which have benefited hundreds of people.

“It started with us (probation department colleagues) buying things for each other. Then, we decided we don’t need anything. Instead, we adopted a family for the holiday. We bought whatever was on their wish list,” said Arruda.

Another year, Arruda led a holiday drive for a young boy stricken with cancer. The child’s parents, struggling to pay the boy’s medical expenses, had little left for Christmas presents. That year, Arruda raised $1,000.

Last year, Arruda and her court colleagues focused her efforts on recently immigrated Guatamalan families.

“They were poverty-stricken. Some were abused,” she recalled. “And, all they wanted was candies and blankets.”

Arruda’s efforts do not end at Christmas. She also leads a Daffodil drive for the American Cancer Society in February.

“There are people who have so little. I just want to help,” said Arruda.