A surprise delivery for some Hernando county residents. The local YMCA is delivering goodie bags to some of their silver-sneakers members to let them know they are not forgotten.

What You Need To Know

For Hernando residents like Deborah Swanson and Richard Sheldon, visiting the YMCA is a thing of the past because of COVID-19. But Executive Director Amber Slusser wanted to remind them that they are not alone

“Back in April,” Slusser mentioned, “we started doing phone calls to our seniors knowing the social isolation could be huge for them not being able to get out of the house."

She wanted to do more for them so she came up with goodie bags.

“We got together with some of community partners and asked them for little goodies to put in these bags,” Slusser added.

Each bag is equipped with snacks, coupons and a quick message from the YMCA letting residents know that they are not forgotten, and the beauty about this is that the seniors do not know they were coming.

"At first they are a little hesitant, they’re a little inquisitive, why someone is coming to my house,” Slusser mentioned.

“This is Amber from the Y,” she said as she was walking up to Richard Sheldon’s house. “We just wanted to say we were thinking of you and drop you off this bag.”

The next stop wasn’t as successful. The resident wasn’t home but as part of the YMCA’s contactless delivery, she left the bag on her door so that the resident could see it when she gets home.

“They are so tickled, they’re so happy, they’re like, 'Thank you so much, we can’t believe you thought about us,'" and they can’t wait to get back.

The YMCA will drive around town to deliver 100 goodie bags within the next couple weeks.