The number of elderly receiving Christmas gift boxes from the Sebago Lakes Region Rotary Club doubled last year, and the need is expected to increase this year.

The Rotary Club’s annual gift box drive for the elderly started when club members noticed that some of the elderly accessing the food pantry are unable to affoord basic toiletries, and are alone at the holidays, said organizer Dawn Dwyer.

The rotary club collects various cleaning and paper products to fill the boxes.  They also collect warm-weather gear such as mittens, hats and scarves, along with fun “trinkets” like crossword puzzles and candles.

Each year, Dyer said, it seems like more elderly are in need of the boxes. From 2014 to 2015, they doubled the number of gift boxes they gave out to 50.

This year, Colette Gagnon, Windham’s Food Pantry Director, estimates there are roughly 60 elders, most of them women, who could use a Christmas box.

Donations for the boxes – goods or a monetary contribution – can be dropped off at Windham Automotive, Cumberland County Credit Union, Gorham Savings Bank, Peoples United Bank and Norway Savings Bank. Rotary Club members will collect the donations, then package and distribute gift boxes to the Food Pantry for distribution around mid-December. Items that are in high demand include soap, laundry detergent, toilet paper, Kleenex, paper towels, toothpaste, denture cream, shaving cream, razors and skin moisturizer.

Feedback from the recipients is heartwarming, Dwyer said. One said, “You don’t know how much it means, when you have no money at the end of the month to even buy shampoo, to get something like this.”

– Tess Wrobleski