A busy holiday season has kicked out at the YMCA of Selma, but interim CEO Kasey Burton said employees and members there are focused on the first item on their agenda.

“We have a bunch of things going on and the biggest thing going on right now is the nursing home drive,” Burton said. “We are collecting goods to be given to the residents of Lighthouse Nursing Home.”

The deadline to drop of donated items is Dec. 18, and Burton said she hoped they could be delivered to Lighthouse Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center on the Dec. 23.

Burton said that the donations have been fairly steady since the program was started a little more than a week ago.

“It’s going well, our first basket out front is full and we’ve had a lot of other members here saying they will donate in the next few days,” Burton said. “We have gotten a lot of soaps and shampoos already, and the residents at Lighthouse really like the puzzles, pens and stationary, so hopefully we can get a lot more of those items.”

Burton said Lighthouse came to mind early on when YMCA employees considered where to collected donations for this holiday season.

“We went with Lighthouse Nursing Home because it is one of the smaller nursing homes, and we kind of want to be sure all the residents got something,” Burton said. “We wanted to do something to give back to the community, and we wanted to give to people who might have been overlooked.”

Along with the donation drive, YMCA employees are also preparing for their Whimsical Winter Break camp.

Open to children between the ages of 4-and 11-years-old, the camp would give parents a safe place to take their children during their winter breaks from school.

“We’ll focus on enrichment, and we have different plans set up for each day,” Burton said. “There will be arts and crafts and all kinds of activities.”

Acknowledging the hectic day-to-day schedules that are common this season, Burton said the camp would run from Dec. 23 to Jan. 3 — excluding Dec. 24, 25 and Dec. 31 through Jan. 1, when the YMCA is closed — and could be attended whenever beneficial to the parent.

“I know everyone’s work schedules vary during that period, so parents can drop their kids off every day or one day.

More information about the camp can be found on the YMCA of Selma’s Facebook page.

Burton also said there are talks of potentially holding a lock-in at the YMCA for children on New Year’s Eve. Anyone interested in their child attending a lock-in at on New Year’s Eve, they can contact the YMCA at 874-9622.