         
Volunteering at Leonard Terrace Retirement VillageEdit Volunteering at Leonard Terrace Retirement Village here.
4.27.05 at Leonard Terrace 9:30am - 1:15pm This was a wednesday. There is a coffee break hour that is held every week from 9:30 - 10:30 in the community room, which I learned used to be from 10-11. I was sitting across from the woman who was in charge of that (who is a resident). Basically, she would make the coffee and clean everything up when it was over. Before I sat down, I asked her if it was alright if I just hung out with them. I tried to make it obvious that I was just there to help out with stuff and chat, but that woman seemed to be afraid that I would take her coffee hour away. She repeatedly explained to me that someone else had talked to the administration before talking to her and almost did take the coffee hour away. To make everyone happy, they pushed back the coffee hour to 9:30. It took a good 5-10 minutes before she stopped banging her hand on the table and saying, "They're not taking it away from me... I've been doing this for __ years". I can't remember how many years she had said that she had done that. Her bitterness reminded me of my Grandma Rottman. After the coffee hour, I played Skip-Bo with 3 of the seniors. The conversations that came up while playing cards were the most interesting of all of the time I spent with the seniors. The ladies were discussing being involved in a Red Hat Society. They didn't want to start one because once you are the leader of one, you can never quit. So they talked about joining one, but in Grandville. Whaa? Those societies are all over the place. I mentioned to them that I saw a bunch of the Red Hat women at the Brittney Cafe just down the street, but they said that the local groups weren't friendly enough. The Grandville one was friendly. They were also talking about a get together that was going to happen in the next couple of months and that they would hold that in the Grandville High School, where they had comfortable seats. I was so confused as to why these people wanted to travel so far when they really only had to go a mile or two. After the games, I helped out again with the hot lunch that was served. This time I knew what had to be done, and didn't have to wait for Karen to tell me. After the lunch, she was busy talking with a man who had never gotten a free meal before (getting his address and medical info). I organized and cleaned almost everything without her help. I also chatted with a late comer as she ate.
Jenny Pope came with me this time. We were unsure of what was going on at first. People came in a little late. This was a Monday, which is Bingo Day. In the beginning we both chated with the seniors and played Bingo with them. After the first game, I called out all the letters and numbers. After the games we helped get everyone's drinks and then served them food. The leftovers were going to get thrown away, so we ate some as well. We helped clean everything up and then we left. I got a sense that they liked us there because they wanted to know if we'd be there the next day. We were also asked by a resident to entertain another function there, but we don't sing!
I went to this apartment building (which also has some nursing home types of services) and helped with Depression Screening. It was National Depression Screening Day. I helped people fill out a questionaire and then helped them score it. I then read the results out loud to them and talked through a couple of things. I asked some personal questions like, "How close are you with your family" and stuff like that. The group then watched a video, we gave them blankets (that were donated), and then I left.
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