Adopt-A-Grandparent!

Adopt-a-grandparent was started by Nicole Allison in 2013, after noticing that many elderly residents didn’t have family to spend Christmas with. She decided they needed a more personalised and heart-warming way to share the love at Christmas and founded Adopt-a-grandparent.

“We currently partner with two local nursing homes – Edenvale in Glen Eden and Bindaree in Boyne Island. Each year we get a list of residents and some information on their interests or items the nurses have noticed they need. We set a few days in December where visits can happen, and a main event at each facility on a weekend. We then advertise anonymously via our Facebook event page and pair up local families with their chosen “adopted” grandparent. These people/families purchase a small gift for their adoptee and bring it along to wish them a Merry Christmas. We also organise a few hours of entertainment for the grandies with people signing up to sing a song, play guitar or tell a poem,” Nicole said.