Santa, 2 penguins and 20 helpers make special food delivery

On Friday, more than 20 of Santa’s helpers paid 200 Will County seniors a visit to ensure they have a wonderful Christmas dinner.

Sue Kainrath, director of the Community Connections Collaborative at Senior Services of Will County, said the center worked with Berkot’s Super Foods in Lockport to help give each senior a bag of groceries and a pork roast.

“Over 20 volunteer drivers lined up at 9:30 on Friday morning to fill their cars with the bags and delivered to routes of 10 to 12 seniors.” Kainrath wrote in an email. “Later on Friday the staff decorated their own cars as well as the Seniors Services bus and Medivan and paraded past 10 senior buildings in Will County.”

Kainrath said that at each stop, Santa’s helper (Barry Kolanowski, chief executive officer of Senior Services) and two “penguin” helpers from the North Pole (portrayed by Hailey Bogena and Mary Thayer) got out of their vehicles and then waved and danced while the rest of the center’s staff honked and waved.

Some of the staff even bought their children with them “to assist in the bringing of holiday cheer,” Kainrath wrote.

“It was wonderful to see so many seniors waving to us and blowing kisses,” Kainrath said. “From the lobbies and even the top floors of the high rise senior buildings like Park Tower and Joshua Arms, we saw them all and it brought us such joy as well.”

This isn’t the first time Senior Services has delivered food and good cheer to Will County Seniors. Senior Services held its first outreach parade in May with 20 decorated cars. Staff and volunteers participated.

“We were honking our horns and waving,” Kainrath said in a Nov. 1 Herald-News story “It was really amazing to see how many seniors were either outside the building and waving to us or waving from their windows and holding up signs that said, ‘Thank you.’ We were literally in tears from our cars because we thought, ‘We’re going to make them smile.’ You forget the impact doing good does for you.”

On Oct. 30, Senior Services sent a “Monster Motorcade” to wish some of its clients a Happy Halloween. And then on Nov. 20, Senior Services of Will County delivered bags of Thanksgiving food to more than 200 seniors who live alone.

Money from the Illinois Department of Aging Emergency Senior Services grant paid for the groceries, Kainrath said. Senior Service’s worked with Berkot’s in Lockport on this event, too.

“They gave us great pricing and ordered all the items for us,” Kainrath said in a Nov. 24 Herald-News story.