Gives one senior a full Care Bag of hygiene and winter essentials.
Winter care drive
This winter, no senior should have to choose between food and a bar of soap.
In Dallas, adults 65 and older are the fastest-growing part of our community. For many of them, getting older has also meant getting poorer.
Our goal
250 seniors cared for this winter.
Covers Care Bags for five seniors at a Bingo-Birthday event.
Sponsors a whole building of 25 seniors.
Brings us closer to reaching every one of the 250 seniors before the cold arrives.
Every senior signs for their bag, and we survey participants after each event, so you'll know exactly who your gift reached.
The need
A fixed income runs out before the basics do.
Texas now ranks first in the nation for food insecurity among seniors. About 30,000 Dallas residents aged 60 and up live on $1,000 a month or less, and nearly one in three seniors lives completely alone. When a fixed income has to cover rent, food, and medicine, things like toothpaste, deodorant, lotion, and laundry detergent are the first to go. So are warm socks and gloves when winter comes.
Going without those basics costs more than it seems. Poor hygiene leads to skin problems, oral health problems, and pain. Being alone and unable to drive means no easy way to get to a store or to a doctor. The U.S. Surgeon General has warned that social isolation raises the risk of early death more than obesity does. Many of the seniors we serve are dealing with all of this at once, often with nobody checking on them.
Why we do this
Eighteen years of showing up.
1st Choice CNS grew out of 18 years of caring for seniors and adults with disabilities. Our founder, Vicky Michaels, came to this work through her own family. She cared for a son born at 23 weeks, a father living with Parkinson's and diabetes, and a mother living with Alzheimer's. Over those 18 years she has met many seniors who couldn't cover their basic needs. She started using bingo prizes to help them, and she saw that a game day could do more than hand out supplies. It gets people out of their apartments, laughing, and connected to each other again.
What your gift does
Bingo, birthdays, and a Care Bag to take home.
This winter we're bringing Bingo-Birthday events and holiday celebrations, including Senior Thanksgiving and Senior Christmas, to senior apartments and low-income housing in seven Dallas zip codes. Parkland Health and Dallas County Health and Human Services have identified these neighborhoods as having high concentrations of low-income seniors with serious health inequities. Many live on $850 to $1,000 a month and have to choose between food and their basic hygiene or health needs.
Everyone who comes goes home with a Care Bag of hygiene essentials and winter items. Before each event we ask every senior which item they need most, so each bag fits the person getting it. We're also inviting visiting nurses and doctors to the events so seniors can get health questions answered while they're there.
Little drops of water make a mighty ocean. Your drop could be the reason a senior spends this winter clean, warm, and not alone.
1st Choice CNS is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your gift is tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.