Morning Exchange stuffs stockings for seniors

By PAMELA GRANT

Cove Leader-Press 

Everyone deserves a bit of happiness over the holidays.

To make this holiday season a little bit brighter for local senior citizens, members of the Morning Exchange Club met at the headquarters for Operation Stand Down Central Texas to prepare and stuff dozens of Christmas stockings for the seniors of Copperas Cove. 

They prepared 51 stockings for men and 125 stockings for women. 

They plan to deliver the stockings for the residents of Copperas Cove Nursing & Rehabilitation, Hill Country Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, and the Exchange Club Sunshine Home.

Each of the 176 stockings were stuffed with a notebook, word search book, pair of socks, bag of hygiene items including body wash, deodorant, body lotion, 2 small tissue containers, hand sanitizer, and Chapstick, and a card with 2 pens, reading glasses, and a candy cane.

In addition to the stockings, they plan to deliver 50 blankets to each of the nursing homes.

Joan Courtland, the Director of Operation Stand Down Central Texas and community service board chair for the Morning Exchange Club of Copperas Cove said that the Exchange Club usually hosts a big dinner event for the seniors at this time of the year.

“Because we couldn’t do that level of group activity, and a drive-thru didn’t really work, we decided as a group to stuff stockings with personal items and some other items for both of the nursing homes…and the Exchange’s Sunshine Home,” said Courtland.

She said that there is a lot going on, and a lot of worries and concerns with the pandemic, but she felt that it was very important for her and other members of her group to do their best to help out as much as they could.

“Since the senior dinner was canceled, we wanted to reach out to our seniors, especially the ones in the nursing homes,” said Courtland. “There’s been a lot of isolation, and we wanted to brighten their day.”

Clinton Brown, the Exchange Club’s newest member, was one of many who volunteered to help stuff the stockings on Saturday. The veteran has been a member for just a few weeks. He said he joined because he wanted to be able to help out and give back to the community.

“I wanted to make sure that they knew that they have somebody that cares about them and wanted to give them something for Christmas,” said Brown. “We like to see them smile, and just take the time to talk with them, and maybe they’ll share some wisdom with you too.”

Anyone interested in joining the Exchange Club can attend a future meeting. The group meets every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month at 6:30 a.m. at Lil-Tex Restaurant.

Members of the Exchange Club plan to deliver all of the stuffed stockings on Dec 12.