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For Valentine’s Day, the Suffolk Sheriff’s Office shared love with various nursing home residents with some help from students at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy. 

Loaded with heartwarming cards, the students and SSO set out to show just how special nursing home residents are during their stops at Maryview, Autumn Care, Concordia and Lake Prince Woods nursing homes. During their stop at Lake Prince Woods, Activity Director Tamica Ricks expressed how “caring,” “compassionate,” and “very dedicated” the department is for reaching out to them.

“It’s a very awesome thing that the Sheriff’s Department does. They usually come here a few times a year, and today it just lightens so many hearts of our residents and put smiles on their faces,” Ricks said. “They really came out and showed love today and we definitely appreciate it.”

Chief Deputy Maj. David Miles talked about the positive impact they aimed to share at each of their stops.

“Each one of them, we have an opportunity to interact with more of our seniors and just giving them an opportunity to put a smile on their face and the amount of love that you can tell in the detail of the cards that we received, I think they can see it also and they really appreciate it,” Miles said.

The love didn’t stop there as the office joined Lake Prince Woods staff to wish and sing happy birthday to a resident at the nursing home. Before that moment, Activity Coordinator Tiffany Seeger spoke about bringing smiles to her residents.

“It’s always an honor just to give the residents a smile. The smile on their faces light my insides up, so any extra token that we can do just to instill that love that we give here is always top tier and A+,” Seeger said.

Miles also talked about the “personal” moment.

“Didn’t know who he was on the way in, but to know that he retired from serving on the State Police just made it a little bit sweeter and hit a little bit more closer to home, and his wife was appreciative,” Miles said. “It was spontaneous but well worth it.”

Finally, Miles shared a special Valentine’s Day message to the community.

“Today is about love, and this is an opportunity for us to love on our neighbor and thank [you] to the students at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy for giving us their cards and their gifts to be able to spread some love in places that might not get a chance to receive it too often.”