BUFFALO, N.Y. — This week's Two On Your Side "Good Neighbor" is a West Seneca woman whose day job is as a pharmacist, but her passion is a charity she created for nursing home patients called "Homes for the Holidays."
When Nicole Staebell, a pharmacist at Jericho Road Community Health Center in Buffalo, was getting married in 2018, she didn't want her wedding day to be all about the bride.
"I decided to take the money I would've normally spent on a wedding dress and bring some gifts to folks who live in nursing homes and wouldn't normally get visitors," said Staebell. "I thought it was a better use of my money than an expensive dress for one day."
She filled 30 bags with toiletries, blankets, puzzles and snacks and hand delivered them to residents at Sapphire North nursing home in the Town of Tonawanda. There was one woman Staebell met who she said she'll never forget.
"I brought her the bag and she immediately sobbed and said I haven't gotten a Christmas gift in 10 years and nobody visits me. And she was so sweet and so happy and I promised her I would come back and visit her again," Staebell recalled. "I followed up with the nursing home a few months later and I found out that she had passed. And I was the last person on earth to ever visit her and bring her a gift. And that was all I ever needed. That will keep me going year after year."
So that one time wedding charity project has become an annual event.
"We just filled the bags full of toiletries and basic necessities, and you would've thought we were bringing them the world," she said.
With the help of donations from Nicole's friends and the community, her goal is to deliver 200 bags to eight nursing homes this year.
"The bags are really great, but the visit I think is what means the most to them, and that somebody remembered them," said Staebell.
But now, because of COVID pandemic restrictions, most patients can't have visitors and the need at the nursing homes is greater than ever.
"They all anticipate needing more bags than normal because folks who normally get visitors can't, and families who normally bring things to their loved ones in nursing homes or assisted living facilities can't," said Staebell.
Staebell says she won't let the pandemic slow her down and she'll see to it that the residents will still get their holiday bags filled with basic necessities and love.
"That's the idea- to do it around the holidays - but for it to last the entire year so that they know that they are thought of and they are cared for."
Staebell is collecting donations for the bags through the December 12. She made it easy and COVID safe to donate items through an Amazon Wishlist, so you can buy what you can afford and have them sent right to her with no need to go to a store. Find Nicole Staebell's Amazon Wishlist here.
To contact Nicole Staebell directly, email Wilcocks17@gmail.com