“Sweaters for Seniors” gets help from the Galloway School
courtesy of CBS 46 Better Mornings.

You have to get up pretty early in the morning to know everything Maria Spartis knows. That’s because Maria Spartis is responsible for educating a classroom of 4th graders at the Galloway School in Atlanta. And to help her do that, she watches CBS 46 “Better Mornings” weekday mornings, 5-7 AM before she goes to school.

“I love the variety of things they have because it’s a brief summary of news, weather, local restaurants and events in the city,” Maria explains.

One of the events that caught her attention happened to be our “Sweaters for Seniors” (SFS) program. (As luck would have it, we, Alternative Home Care for Seniors, were invited to “Better Mornings” for an on-air interview with anchorwoman, Tracye Hutchins on Monday, November 17.)

And as further luck would have it, Maria Spartis was watching.

Next thing you know we were at the Galloway school discussing the program with Mrs. Spartis’, Mrs. Saussy’s, Mrs. Dempsey’s and Ms. Giarraputo’s classes. The children gathered around as I displayed our basket of cardigans, v-necks and throws, explaining what I did (marketing for a home care agency) and what we were trying to do (collect sweaters for seniors.)

After some discussion, the 8, 9 and 10 year olds concluded that collecting sweaters for seniors was a worthwhile idea. After all, these sweaters will be going to those in nursing homes who don’t have family and never receive gifts. Hands waved in the air offering multiple suggestions on how to get the sweaters, where the collection boxes should go and who to ask for donations. The class also plans to personalize the donations, time allowing, with hand made cards pinned to the sweaters.

In a few weeks, I’ll return to the Galloway School to pick-up the collected sweaters.

Until then, I want to thank everyone at CBS 46 “Better Mornings” for getting the word out about Sweaters for Seniors. (Chris, Monique, Tracye and the cameraman who showed dorky me how to run a mike through my turtleneck.) And Maria Spartis, 4th Grade teacher at the Galloway School for watching “Better Mornings.” It’s because of Maria’s neverending thirst for knowledge, her passion for sharing ideas with her students and engaging them in new projects, Sweaters for Seniors has a new partner.