The sun was out in full force Friday, providing a warm sanctuary from the cold weather that dominated Ironton for most of the week. It was the perfect weather for an organization that provides a sanctuary of its own for area seniors to host their first ever Easter egg hunt.

Staff members of the Sanctuary of the Ohio Valley, a short-term rehabilitation and long-term nursing center in Ironton, hid around 600 plastic eggs filled with money, candy and toys Friday afternoon for children and grandchildren of residents and employees to hunt.

Debbie Osborne, activities director for Sanctuary, said she enjoyed putting on the event that so many people enjoyed.

“We had at least thirty kids out there hunting for eggs,” Osborne said. “We also had the Easter Bunny come by and take pictures with the kids which they just loved. Oh my God, we just had one little boy that was petting the Easter Bunny. It was great.”

Osborne said she would like to thank Bruce Roach Sr., and his wife for donating the money that went inside some of the eggs. She said the kids were full of smiles as they popped open their eggs to see what was inside.

Jeremy Long, Sanctuary administrator, was the idea man behind the Easter egg hunt. He said the place he worked at before Sanctuary put on a hunt and it was successful enough he knew he wanted to implement it here.

“We thought it would be nice to do something like this at our facility and I think it was a big hit,” Long said. “It went really, really well with everyone and the residents really love the children. We want to make this facility more family oriented and have the residents take part in activities like this.”

Long said interaction with the youth seems to help residents and he enjoys being able to bring the community to Sanctuary.