Inmates handmade 2,000 gifts for nursing home, extended care residents

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Around 2,000 handcrafted gifts are being delivered to long-term care residents across the state today, but who made them might surprise you.

An initiative between the SC Department of Corrections and the Department on Aging is bringing a little holiday joy to both inmates and seniors.

Department on Aging Director Connie Munn says 46% of nursing home and extended care residents have no living relatives, and 50% have no one come to visit them.

Through an effort called “Operation Spread the Joy,” inmates from 20 different South Carolina prisons are helping to bring happiness to long term care residents with handmade gifts.

“These gifts that they receive are many times the only thing that they receive during the holiday season. So it’s very important. Many of our long-term care residents are mechanics, they’re teachers, they’re our healthcare workers, they’re our Veterans. And so these gifts that the inmates make make them realize that they’re not a forgotten generation but that we still recognize and want to be there to provide joy during the holiday season,” says Munn.

Director for the Department of Corrections, Bryan Stirling, says this is now the fourth year handmade gifts will be delivered including hand-drawn cards, keychains, winter accessories, and other comfort items — even a handmade wooden rocking horse and wooden motorcycle.

“As we know some people don’t get things at Christmas and this will make sure someone has something as a gift and knows that someone is thinking about them. It helps these residents, and it also helps these folks that are incarcerated know that they can give back even though they’ve made decisions to be incarcerated at the holidays, but it gives them a sense of pride in what they can do,” says Stirling.

“Operation Spread the Joy” began in 2020 as a way to help cheer up nursing home residents who weren’t allowed to have visitors during the pandemic.

And according to Munn, the Department on Aging is looking for volunteers who’d like to visit with long-term care residents. If you’re interested in volunteering, visit their website here or contact Connie Munn at 803-734-9900.