Holiday Gift Lift

- Making the holidays special for over 50 years.

The Holiday Gift Lift program provides new essential items to adults who might not otherwise receive a gift over the holiday season.

Eligible recipients include:

  • Residents of all nursing homes located within Tippecanoe County, who are deemed appropriate (in need) by nursing home personnel
  • Patients of Valley Oaks who are deemed appropriate (in need) by clinical staff
  • Clients in the Shelter Plus Care program
  • Residents of Mental Health America's Supportive Housing program

Our community helps us serve approximately 400 people per year through the Holiday Gift Lift program. Please help us continue to brighten the holiday season for those in need this year.

Please help by donating a new unwrapped gift or by making a cash donation. All contributions are tax-deductible. For more information, please contact the MHA office.

Gift Suggestions

  • Sweatshirts
  • Warm Socks
  • Nightwear
  • Hats
  • Gloves
  • Sweatpants
  • Scarves
  • Word Search Books
  • Adult Coloring Books and Pens
  • Slipper Socks
  • Flannel Shirts
  • Sweaters
  • Hygiene items (deodorant, soap, shampoo, etc.)

Suggested clothing items are in need for men and women in all sizes.  Gift boxes or shoe boxes are always in need for wrapping.

Only new unwrapped gifts are accepted.

Cash donations are also needed. 100% of all cash donations designated for the Holiday Gift Lift program go directly toward the purchase of gifts.

What's New

  • Suicide is skyrocketing in young people, and their screens and smartphones have nothing to do with it

    Date:

    Author: Hilary Brueck

    • Suicide has risen dramatically among young Americans from ages 10 to 24. It is now the second leading cause of death after accidents. 
    • Child psychologist Peter Gray says the trend may be linked not to social media or screen time, but to more stressed out kids, who are driven to excel all the time.
    • Gray says unstructured play time is what helps children develop much-needed resilience and courage, and it's desperately missing in today's jam-packed student schedules

  • 20 Minute Contact with Nature Reduces Stress Hormone Cortisol

    Date:

    Author: Matt Prior: Frontier

    Taking at least twenty minutes out of your day to stroll or sit in a place that makes you feel in contact with nature will significantly lower your stress hormone levels. That’s the finding of a study that has established for the first time the most effective dose of an urban nature experience. Healthcare practitioners can use this discovery, published in Frontiers in Psychology, to prescribe ‘nature-pills’ in the knowledge that they have a real measurable effect.

  • Self-reported suicide attempts rising in black teens as other groups decline

    Date:

    Author: Robert Polner – NYU

    Self-reported suicide attempts rose significantly in African American teens, while they fell in teens of other ethnic backgrounds throughout an almost 20-year study. Researchers report suicide attempts increased at an accelerating rate in African American female teenagers, even as overall female suicide attempts declined.

  • Kids Under Pressure Innovative Therapy Using Music

    Date:

    Author: Today with Hoda and Jenna

    Dr. Brette Genzel-Derman, with support from rocker Dave Grohl, developed a program to help kids cope with depression and anxiety through music. The fourth hour of TODAY spotlights one particular patient’s story, then welcomes the doctor to chat about more.

  • Strong Student-Adult Relationships Can Lower Suicide Attempts in High School

    Date:

    Author: Traci Pedersen

    “One of the most important predictors of lower suicide attempt rates in this study was positive youth-adult connections widely spread across the school,” said Wyman, “we have to be thinking about the broader population to make sure more students are connected to adults prepared to support them.”