 During the holidays, seniors might have a harder time seeing family and enjoying the season than others in the community. A program in the area is working to make their holidays a little brighter. Reporter Rachel Johnson has more. Thank you. Be a Santa to a senior is a simple idea, but it makes the world a difference. Christmas is a time where we typically think of families, children, and this has really benefited the people that are elderly, so many that are alone. And, you know, it's just brightened their lives. The Be a Santa to a senior program distributes gifts to area seniors who may not otherwise receive Christmas gifts. We get names of seniors that may be alone during the holiday season, may not get another gift during the holiday season. The names are written on tags along with a gift idea and are displayed on Christmas trees at various locations across the community. The gifts can be dropped off at 11 different locations across town up through December 12th. The program began in 2003 and is put on by Holman State Senior Care. We get them wrapped, we get it organized, and on December 18th this year there will be 416 gifts delivered to seniors in our community. Over the last 15 years the program has been running, over 700,000 seniors' holidays were brightened across the country. To see them just get that one gift at Christmas just lights up their lives. Their wishes are so simple and I just think that that just speaks to that generation. The holidays are truly more, I think, steeped in tradition. I just think it's really important. It means a lot to them. According to the organizers, the impact that the program has is immeasurable. I think seniors a little bit get ignored during the holidays. We have a lot of things for kids which are great. And seniors don't demand much so they literally get overlooked. So it's just a great way to someone anonymously appearing at their door to say Merry Christmas. The need continues to grow year after year and I just think that that speaks in itself why it's so important for people to consider this and reach out to seniors that have given to us their whole lives so it's time to pay back. Though the gift requests might be small or simple, they have a huge impact on the person receiving them. Reporting from Brainerd, Rachel Johnson, Lakeland News. To see a list of locations in the Brainerd area where the names and gift ideas can be found, you can visit the story on our website lptv.org. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.