ASCENSION PARISH - Families have been getting creative finding ways to visit their elderly family members and raise their spirits as social 
distancing guidelines continue to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The Delmore family says it’s been tough not having their weekly visits with their grandmother, but they found a different way to stop by and safely show their love.

On Saturday, an unexpected convoy of cars filled with family members blowing kisses and waiving with big smiles lined up outside of Mary Delmore’s home in Dutchtown. To family members, it’s better known as mawmaw’s house.

“We come from a very big family, very close-knit family. So, we hadn’t seen her in two weeks. Which seems like a very short amount of time, but we visit with her two and three times a week. So that was pretty hard on us as well as her,” Whitney Delmore said.

Whitney and her family got the idea of throwing their mawmaw a mini-parade on social media after seeing others do the same for school children and family members. 

“We just thought that it was such a good idea. We just called all the family and told them lets park at the neighborhood for a certain time and we’re just gonna do this parade,” Delmore said.

No beads were thrown at this parade though, only paper products and other necessities. 

“And she was like, ‘well, I could replenish my tissue and paper towels. So. I was like, ‘wait, I forgot your stuff and just threw it out the window,’” Delmore said.

There was plenty of love for mawmaw being shared from those car windows. She wiped tears from her eyes as the family convoy finished up. 

“Just watching it back and seeing her get emotional. It definitely made us a little teary-eyed. But she was extremely excited to see us all, just waving. And that’s her all the time, calling us ‘baby’ and ‘darling’ and ‘I love you,’ that’s her all the time,” Delmore said.

Family is hoping that this time spent a little further apart, will only make them closer, after all of this has rolled through.

Whitney Delmore, who works for a hospice company, says she knows first hand the struggles that families are facing right now, with not being able to personally visits with elderly family members.

However, she says the situation has brought out the creativity in a lot of people, who are determined to see their loved ones one way or another.