GREENFIELD — She stepped forward timidly and placed the ornament in Eleanor Halcomb’s hand, a grin spreading wide across her face.
Halcomb, sitting in a wheelchair just outside the community room at Springhurst Health Campus in Greenfield, recognized the look of delight in 4-year-old Mati Jones’ eyes and greeted the gift with an exclamation of praise and gratitude.
That brief connection, though the gap in their ages spanned generates, is something Eryn Jones of Greenfield, Mati’s mother, hopes her young daughter remembers.
Mati and her 2-year-old brother, Corbyn, were among a crowd of about two dozen youngsters who visited Springhurst Saturday to bring handmade gifts to the residents there.
They’d crafted their creations about an hour before at a holiday event Greenfield Banking Co. hosted for community members. More than 100 families visited the bank’s State Street headquarters in Greenfield to play games, visit with Santa Claus and make gifts for local senior citizens.
Eryn Jones is a bank customer who attended Saturday’s event with her kids, ready to spend some quality time together and teach them about giving back to their community. Jones said she talked at length with Mati and Corbyn about how much joy their gifts would likely bring the Springhurst residents.
She was pleased Springhurst’s residents were as excited to receive the presents as her kids were to give them, she said.
Greenfield Banking Co. welcomes the community, particularly its kids’ club families, to its headquarters for seasonal gatherings throughout the year, said Angela Neff, one of the bank’s branch managers. Most recently, the company hosted a Halloween party where costume-wearing youngsters went trick-or-treating around the building.
But Christmas is one of the biggest affairs, Neff said.
Workers decorated the top floor of the headquarters to create a Christmas wonderland. Rows of tables were set up to make a workshop where young elves, with their parents’ helping hands, could make snowmen or reindeer ornaments.
Then a group of volunteers caravanned over to Springhurst to deliver the gifts, visit with seniors and sing Christmas carols – a first for the kids’ club gathers, said Mark Griffin, a bank vice president who helped organize the gathering.
Visits from young faces always help brighten the halls of the senior center, particularly around the holidays, said Karen Rue-Hinton, a Springhurst employee.
“They love visits like this,” she said.