DEMOPOLIS &8212; Armed with boxes full of apples and oranges and Christmas cards, Logan Gills, 11, of Forkland, decided to make a difference this Christmas season.

The fifth grader in Ms. Wilson&8217;s class at U.S. Jones Elementary was recently assigned to do a community project.

After thinking it over, Gills decided he wanted to bring some holiday spirit to the residents of Woodhaven Manor nursing home and Southern Oaks assisted living facility in Demopolis.

Along with the assistance of his grandmother, Paulette Jones, Gills selected cards from the store and spent two days signing each one to hand out at the two sites. Then, he set his sights on getting some apples and oranges to the residents as well.

Food World donated 100 oranges and 100 apples to Gill&8217;s project. Scott Hutton, co-manager of Food World, said he was happy to donate the items.

Sutton said the store often receives requests from community groups asking for donations during the holidays, but never like this.

So Gills and his grandmother packed up their goodies on Sunday, Dec. 2 and headed to each of the facilities, handing out the cards and the fruit to those who were able to have it.

Martha Ellis, an registered nurse at Woodhaven Manor, was at work the day Logan paid his visit. She remembers him lugging a luggage cart full of boxes up and down the halls until he had handed out gifts to each person.

When asked how the residents responded Ellis said, &8220;They were just thrilled.&8221;

Ellis said Logan&8217;s visit was special, because many of their residents don&8217;t have family members to come visit them for the holidays.

After all the residents were given their gifts, Logan decided to give the rest of the fruit out to the nurses.

Down the road at Southern Oaks, manager Vickie Taylor said the residents were equally as excited for Logan&8217;s visit.

Taylor said his message of giving to those in spite of no connection or family ties is exactly what their Christian-based facility is all about.

Logan said he hopes the residents feel proud for his gifts. Next semester he will report to his class how his project went. He said he will probably tell them that the project really taught him how to help others.

Logan also said he&8217;s looking forward to Christmas this year, and also looking forward to having Santa pay his house a visit. When asked what he wanted most for Christmas he said without a second to think over it, &8220;A Nintendo DS.&8221;