Senior News Line
Shake off those holiday blues—extend your invitations
By MATILDA CHARLES

Are you dreading the rest of the holidays because you're afraid you'll be alone? Seniors, there are things you can do to make sure you stay busy -- and connected.

Extend your own invitations. Cook a meal and invite people you'd like to know better, perhaps from work or church, or even down the hall.

Do something different: Consider spending a day at a monastery, or take a short trip. Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Visit someone in a nursing home.

Call social services or the American Red Cross in your area and ask if there are any holiday activities for seniors. Ask about events at your local senior center. Ask if there is a grandparent program in your community that matches up seniors with children.

Most of all, don't give up your pleasurable routines and isolate yourself. Stay busy. Think of others and look outward.

The rest of this column is directed to those who come in contact with seniors, either through work, or socially, or in your church.

Do you know a senior who is likely to be alone during the holidays? As seniors age, we lose spouses and friends. Our world can become quite small.

I ask you to extend a hand of fellowship, not just now but in the future. Offer to take an elderly person shopping, as many can no longer drive. Include someone in your holiday plans. Help

address holiday cards, as many seniors have arthritis or vision problems that make writing difficult. Offer to take a senior with you to a religious service. Take a bag of gifts to a nursing home (call ahead to find out what kinds of gifts are appropriate.)

Matilda Charles regrets that she cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate

them in her column whenever possible. Do not send any material requiring return mail. Write to her in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL32853-6475, or send e-mail to letters.kfws@hearstsc.com.

(c) 2006 King Features Synd., Inc.