Love abounds: Valentine’s for Seniors program celebrates five years of sharing love

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

About five years ago, Donna Price saw a group in Coeur d’Alene creating Valentine’s cards for their local veterans. Price decided to participate and brought her creations down, later thinking, “Why can’t we do that in Bonner County?”

The following year, she launched Valentine’s for Seniors, an event in which community members made Valentine’s that Price then collected and distributed to local senior centers. From the first year, Price was pleased to see a high level of participation.

“I called our local Sandpoint Senior Center and asked them if they thought it was a good idea,” Price told the Reader. “This was during COVID and they were delivering a lot of meals to seniors who couldn’t leave their homes.”

Price asked Sandpoint Area Seniors Inc. how many cards they would need to ensure every senior would receive one. 

“They said 250 cards, which I knew I couldn’t make that many by myself in a month,” Price said. “That’s when I reached out to the community.”

Courtesy photo.

Thanks to word of mouth, a few articles in local publications and even a hit on Spokane broadcast news, Price exceeded her goal quickly, pulling in more than 900 cards the first year.

In the years after, she expanded the program to include other facilities.

“I started calling around to see who else could take cards,” she said. “There are assisted living centers, senior apartments. Each year it grows.”

Today, Price collects and distributes Valentine’s cards all over Bonner County, as far east as Clark Fork and as far west as Blanchard. Also, along with community members creating cards, Price now has the support of multiple schools across the county where art teachers have enlisted students to create cards for the program as part of their curriculum. 

“We’ve worked with a lot of schools and teachers,” she said. “We have Washington, Farmin-Stidwell, Hope and Priest River elementary schools. Sandpoint High produces about 300-400 cards a year. Priest River High and Junior High School also. Waldorf School. The Church of Nazarene. Even PSNI [Panhandle Special Needs Inc.] is helping to make cards and pictures.”

Those wishing to participate can either hand-make or purchase Valentine’s cards, which they can sign personally or leave anonymous before depositing into donation baskets spread throughout the county. If the cards come in envelopes, Price asks that they be left unsealed so facilities can help organize the cards before distribution. 

Price will collect the cards on Friday, Feb. 7 and share them with local seniors to bring a few smiles to their faces.

Dropoff locations include:

• Sagle — Buckin’ Beans, Fry Creek Animal Clinic and Pierce Auto; 

• Sandpoint — T. Zinke Art Studio, Finan McDonald, Eve’s Leaves, Sharon’s Hallmark, Creations for Sandpoint, Panhandle Cone and Coffee, Evans Brothers Coffee, Sanctuary Seconds, Miller’s Country Store, Scotchman’s Coffee, Sandpoint Super Drug and Missi Balison Fitness; 

• Ponderay — Cafe 95, Hoot Owl Cafe and Great Clips; 

• Priest River — Jo Mamas Bakery, Infinity Cafe and Greenhouse Coffee Co.; 

• Westmond/Cocolalla — Cupcake Baker Coffee Co. and the View Cafe.

Price said she continues to spearhead the program because it has given as much back to her as she has given to it. 

“It hit me that first year when I was out delivering cards,” Price said. “It was during COVID. Everyone was shut down. There was one facility in Spirit Lake that was so isolated. I went in there and … seeing the smiles on people’s faces when they found out what they were receiving, it was really something. It was a place for people with dementia, Alzheimer’s or in hospice care. 

“I left in tears and realized that for some of these folks, it was their last Valentine’s Day,” she added. “Even for 30 seconds, for that glimmer of a smile, they knew that they weren’t forgotten. That’s what has inspired me to continue doing this. They saw that we still care about them. They’re not on their own.”

For more info, contact Donna Price at [email protected].