By STEPHEN HAMMILL

For the residents of Lakeshore Villas retirement home in Lutz, Christmas came with a special gift made possible by the generosity of strangers.
Val Rossi, 71, of Lake Carlton Arms in Lutz had a Christmas tradition of delivering wrapped slipper socks to the elderly, a tradition that reached back to her time as a young mother. This year, Rossi and her grandchildren donated slipper socks to each of Lakeshore Villa’s 170 residents for the holidays, re-starting the family tradition. It was the first time the family had donated the items since she had moved to Florida.
“I did something similar to this when my children were little,” said Rossi. Living in Illinois, she and her three children would bring slipper socks to the elderly during the cold Chicago holidays, usually to a local nursing home. It became a tradition – something the family could do together in the spirit of Christmas.
But while her children are now grown, the idea trickled down to another generation. Rossi’s youngest son, Russ, now has two children of his own, Christian, 14, and 9-year-old sister Robin. With the grandchildren close by, Rossi was looking for a way to include them in her holiday tradition.
“Their dad wanted something for them to do, and the grandkids really wanted to get into it. It’s good for young children to give,” she said.
Rossi researched various organizations – church groups and hospitals mostly – looking for the right fit.
“I made a bunch of calls,” she said. “Metropolitan Ministries was so far away, and I wanted to do something for our community.”
Finally she found a worthy place very close to her home at the 16002 Lakeshore Villa Drive retirement center.
There was a need there, as well as an opportunity for her grandchildren to experience the same spirit of giving that had touched her and her children so much for so many years.
“I asked Russ if he’d like the children to be involved and he said ‘yes,’” she said.
When Rossi asked what items the residents of Lakeshore might need, and the center responded with slipper socks, she knew she had found her cause.
The initial plan was for her grandchildren to wrap a small number of socks for a handful of residents and deliver them - similar to what she had done years ago. Her son Russ came up with the idea to expand things a little, asking “why not give socks to all 170 residents?”
Young Christian and Robin didn’t take much convincing.
“There was no hesitancy on their part,” said Rossi. “I think they were enthusiastic about it from the beginning.”
“We do different things for charity,” said Russ Rossi, whose family belongs to First United Methodist Church in Lutz. They recently raised money through the church to support a sister program in Ghana, Africa, allowing the followers there to worship in a new building for the first time. A desire to do something close to home, as a family, got him involved again with his mother’s idea.
Rossi recalled that when the grandkids saw the socks, they were a bit overwhelmed. It took about six hours to wrap all the presents.
“We wrapped the ladies’ in red and the men’s in blue.”
On Dec. 22, Lakeshore Villas held its annual Christmas party, where they welcomed Rossi, her husband Jim, her son Russ, young Christian and Robin, and her other grandson Kyle to their facility. Rossi took 9-year-old Robin by the hand as one by one they distributed the gifts to the lit-up faces of the residents.
Rossi was thrilled to gauge the reaction of the seniors.
“It was an eye-opener to see them. They were very, very happy to have young children visit them. You know, they sometimes get a Girl Scout Troop, but that’s usually it. They don’t get many young people, and it makes them so happy,” she said.
This was Christian’s first visit to a nursing home. Although he felt sad seeing many of the elderly in such immobile conditions, the experience had its positives for him.
“They seemed very grateful. I was happy we were giving our time,” he said.
His sister Robin heard many say “thank-you” and “Merry Christmas.” She thinks she may want to go back next year.
Russ Rossi was taken aback by the dedication of the Lakeshore Villas staff.
“The people working there are unbelievable,” he said. “I don’t know if any of us could do the job they do.”
Russ noticed that the staff gave out gifts to residents to make up for a lack of presents from friends and family.
Rossi plans to participate with Lakeshore Villas again next year, and she hopes to make this a tradition with her grandchildren in the same vein as her experiences in Illinois with her three sons.
“You try to instill in little children that they should give back,” she said. “It was a great experience.”