HOLYOKE — The city’s police department last week collected more than 250 plastic bags filled with donated hygiene and other protective supplies for local senior citizens to use during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stationed at the Holyoke Senior Center on Pine Street last Monday through Friday, plainclothes police officers wearing masks and gloves took donated toilet paper, paper towels, personal protective equipment, sanitizer, personal hygiene products and other supplies from community members who were looking to give back, said police Capt. Matthew Moriarty. The community donated enough supplies to fill 250 bags, according to a post on the department’s Facebook page.
The supplies were delivered to WestMass ElderCare Inc. and subsequently sent out to some of the city’s senior citizens through the nonprofit’s existing home-delivered meal program, according to Sarah Asaheim, director of community programs at the nonprofit.
“What the Holyoke Police have done is really above and beyond, but it’s emblematic of the creative ways that people in our community have found ways to help us serve seniors right now, who are staying home out of precaution to stay safe from COVID-19,” Asaheim said Friday.
Moriarty said the donation drive was organized over the course of a weekend by an officer in the police department who was looking for ways to give back to local senior citizens. He said the department has a history of fundraising for and supporting Holyoke organizations and that this donation drive was no different.
“I know several officers that have taken supplies out of their own home,” Moriarty said. “I can always go out and get more. The seniors? They may not be able to do that.”
Moriarty said the department decided to ask WestMass Elder Care if they would take the donations so they could be easily distributed to the nonprofit’s existing network of seniors. Officers put donated supplies through an extensive decontamination process, Asaheim said, which included wiping them down and letting them sit out in the sun before bringing them inside the senior center so they could quarantine for two days.
“One of the dilemmas that we’ve had with donations is that we have to think about contamination and transmission through surfaces,” she said.
On Thursday, police brought their first round of supplies to the nonprofit on Valley Mill Road so that they could be distributed the following day. WestMass Elder Care has a daily meals-on-wheels program that delivers 1,200 meals to families in Holyoke, Chicopee, South Hadley, Granby, Ludlow and Ware, according to Asaheim. The nonprofit has seen this need go up to around 1,700 meals a day during the coronavirus pandemic, she said.
The hygiene products were distributed to Holyoke seniors on Friday along with their meals, Asaheim said.
“We’re very moved by people taking responsibility and figuring out ways that they can help,” Asaheim said.
Moriarty said the department is considering doing another donation drive either next week or the week after. If residents want to donate supplies to the city’s senior citizens in the meantime, they can call (413) 322-6900 to leave their contact information with a dispatcher so a police officer can come by and pick up the supplies, he said.
Michael Connors can be reached at mconnors@gazettenet.com.