The Emerald Lake elves delivered gift bags to rehab residents.

A kind group of friends from Union County, New Jersey have delivered gift bags filled with presents to the residents of a nearby rehab centre to ensure they have an equally enjoyable festive period.

Known as the Emerald Lake elves, they include local people and their grandchildren, who for the third consecutive year organised a gift drive to generate Christmas presents for the 144 residents of Kindred Transitional Care and Rehabilitation of Monroe.

The Charlotte Observer reported that many of the residents at the rehab centre have no family members; therefore a generous gesture such as this is invaluable.

Organiser Linda Morrison and her hardworking team placed leaflets across the neighbourhood to encourage local people to donate money and gifts so that others could share in the Christmas spirit.

After beginning  work in early November Ms Morrison then hit the internet to search for deals and began to frequent local one dollar shops.

“I love the dollar stores and they love me,” she joked to the newspaper.

After much bargain hunting they have created 144 gift bags, filled with socks, puzzle books, pens and sweets, as well as other tiny treats.

Once each of the gift bags was assembled the Emerald Lake elves gathered family members and began driving the presents to the facility, so that the residents would have them in time for Christmas.

Speaking to the newspaper, Joyce Hoskins, Kindred Transitional Care’s activities assistant, described the gifts as a blessing.

“The residents were so excited. There were so many things inside the bags, and they especially liked the tins of hard mixed candy. It reminded them of their childhood.

“These presents really made a difference. One of our residents said, ‘You would think that in a rehab facility like this, we would have been forgotten. But there are people out there that know we exist.’ This made their Christmas,” she said.

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