Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center Provides Holiday Gift Shopping Spree for Seniors

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center (MWCHC) successfully piloted a new initiative to help seniors as they navigated the holiday season. Thanks to a generous grant from the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT), MWCHC hosted a holiday shopping event free to participating seniors as part of their Seasoned Adults Living Triumphantly (SALT) program. The SALT Shopping Extravaganza took place December 20 at Walmart with 23 seniors receiving gift cards to purchase gifts for their friends and family and then returning to MWCHC’s Nashville location for holiday fun.

“MWCHC was elated to be able to provide this shopping opportunity for our seniors,” said Katina Beard, CEO of MWCHC. “The holiday season brings a time when people want to joyfully give from their heart, and we are helping bring a little joy to the season. We appreciate CFMT for their support.”

The SALT program provides a recreational and educational outlet for adults 50 years and older. Monthly activities at MWCHC’s Nashville location include educational sessions on medication management, home safety tips, home health care, Medicare, senior scam prevention, nutrition and exercise as well as social activities and games. Call 615-921-5991 for more information.

“All across Tennessee, each and every day, nonprofits and governmental agencies are working hard to make the path easier for our growing but vulnerable senior population. From Lake County to Bradley County, from Memphis to Elizabethton, we know that the needs of our aging population are often unrecognized or underfunded,” said Ellen Lehman, President of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

“The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee has been honored to assist the Chancery Court and the Office of Tennessee’s Attorney General in the distribution of these grants to help strengthen the ability of these recipient organizations as they work to improve the lives of those they serve,” Lehman continued. “The grants we were able to make last for only six months but span a broad range of needs, including: providing nutritious meals to the homebound, providing safe access to senior centers, providing dentures, providing transportation, providing wellness and educational activities, and fixing homes so that residents can age in their own place.”