A "Create-A-Sweater" Pin-Up is decorated with crayons and tissue paper

Seeing how students and schools have collected the majority of sweaters with the most enthusiasm these past few years, we reconfigured S4S this year.

Sweaters for Seniors got a new mission, a new logo and a new tagline: “A youth based collection to warm Atlanta’s seniors.”

Finally, after months of planning, last Monday marked an important milestone in the history of  “Sweaters For Seniors!”

Various art supplies used to "Create-A-Sweater" at JC Magill

It was the day Principal, Crystal Collins invited us (AHCS) into JC Magill Elementary for her school’s collections to begin!

And not just sweater collections, but monetary ones, too.

Students at JC Magill have signed on to our  “Create-A-Sweater” pin-up program. They’ll color, design, exhibit and sell these pin-ups at school for 1.00 each. Alternative Home Care for Seniors will, in turn, match every donation from Magill dollar for dollar up to $1,000.00. All the funds and sweaters raised will go to Gwinnett County Senior Services, the nonprofit agency that helps seniors in need so they can continue to live independently at home.

As a “for profit” home care agency, that’s our mission, too.  So, of course, being able to collect even more sweaters and raise funds for seniors is icing on the cake. Or should I say embroidery on the sweater?

A JC Magill student drops a sweater in the box

Plus, the program will reach beyond Gwinnett county this year with schools like the Galloway School in Fulton partnering with us as well.

“It feels good knowing we’re able to connect Gwinnett County’s youth with its seniors through Sweaters For Seniors,” says Derrick Merchant, Co-owner and Chief Administrator for AHCS.  “After all – young or old – we are all one.”

Thank you Eric Hurst, CBS photographer for coming out to interview us and get it on tape. This is the 3rd year that CBS Atlanta has helped us get the word out about “Sweaters” thanks mostly to anchorperson, Tracye Hutchins. (You really must catch her morning show, Better Mornings! But I digress.)

Shown left to right: Eric Hurst, CBS Atlanta, Crystal Collins, JC Magill, Sharna Fulton, Alternative Home Care For Seniors

Also, we can’t thank Principal Collins enough for being the visionary leader in education that she is. Collins’ school recently partnered with ArtsNow, a nonprofit organization that encourages integration of creativity and the arts into the daily curriculum of GA Schools.  With the help of Pamela Millice, CEO of ArtsNow, Collins set-up an impromptu art table while we we were there. As Collins was interviewed on camera by CBS, her students were busy, in the background, creating some very beautiful and original artwork on their “Create-A-Sweater” pin-ups. With this kind of talent and creativity and commitment to community, who could ask for anything more?

Have you ever seen prettier sweaters?

3rd Annual Sweaters For Seniors

JC Magill Elementary in Gwinnett County has signed up to be our flagship school. And it looks like CBS Atlanta will be doing a little “Positively Georgia” feature on it too!

Every new or like-new sweater collected at JC Magill will go to Gwinnett County Senior Services. While speaking to Gary Galloway, the volunteer coordinator for GCSS this week at his office, I was reminded how valuable these warm and woolly creations have been the past few years. Gary said we may have even saved a life by providing a sweater to a woman who had no heat in her home.  Can you imagine!

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway! We need more schools to help us out and spread the warmth throughout DeKalb and Fulton County, too. For a Sweaters For Seniors School Activity Kit, please contact  sharna@alternative4seniors.com

Also, on Friday, “Sweaters For Seniors” made the 6 o’clock news! (And 5 AM, noon, 11 PM, too) The sweater drive was featured on CBS Atlanta’s “Good Deeds.” The ongoing segment of anchorperson, Tracye Hutchins highlights unique and giving efforts made in the Atlanta metro area. ”Sweaters” is thankful to have been featured by Ms. Hutchins on “Better Mornings” for the 2nd year. Thank you Tracye, Steve (CBS interview/camera man) and CBS Atlanta for helping us spread the news about “S4S.” Also thanks to Tom Balsamides at Chick-Fil-A on Hwy 124 and Brad Spratte, Hwy 78 for partnering with us on this much needed project for Gwinnett’s aging population. For more information on how Gwinnett Senior Services, helps our community, please click here.

The 2nd Annual “Sweaters for Seniors” was started by Alternative Home Care for Seniors (AHCS) last year. “We were looking for a way our small business could contribute to seniors in our community and came up with the idea,” explains Derrick Merchant, co-owner, AHCS.
Thanks to the help of local media, ‘Sweaters gained the attention of the Galloway School in Atlanta and raised more than 250+ donations in 2008. With more knit pieces than imagined, the program looked to find an organization with a serious need.
Enter Gary Galloway, Volunteer Services Coordinator for Gwinnett County Seniors Services who gladly received many of the donations. “The sweaters were given to seniors facing the dilemma of keeping prescriptions filled before Medicare deductibles were met. They also had to turn down their heat due to increased bills,” explains Galloway. “Many seniors get cold from medications that thin the blood too.”
“To grow the much needed program in 2009, we sought out a business partner who could provide added foot traffic and give people more opportunities to donate,” says Sharna Fulton, Marketing Director for AHCS. “Sweaters for Seniors seemed to especially touch women who went through their closets to find new or like-new sweaters they never wear, but could really help a senior.”
As for Chick-Fil-A? “We couldn’t ask for a better partner,” explains Derrick Merchant, ACHS. “They’re a respected business in Snellville and also where family and friends come together in our community.”
Alternative Home Care for Seniors is a privately owned home care agency that helps seniors remain independent in their own home. AHCS has provided companionship and personal care to seniors throughout Gwinnett and all major metro Atlanta counties since 2002.
Gwinnett County Senior Services is the contracted provider of aging services for Gwinnett County. Its mission is to help seniors maintain their independent living status. For more information on the 2nd Annual Sweaters for Seniors, please call Sharna Fulton@ 404-663-8450 or email her at sharna.fulton@att.net For sweater donations, call our office @ 770-736-7977.