Throughout the year, our staff and residents are blessed by the amazing amount of support they receive by the greater community. If you follow our blog, you might remember one of our recent posts about a local Chick-fil-A in Fayetteville, Georgia that brought food to their local Hope Memory Care Center in honor of Cow Appreciation Day. This meant a lot to us because the residents were unable to leave the community to celebrate in the restaurant.
A lot of times, even small gestures have a huge impact in our communities, which brings us to today’s blog post. What are some ways that someone in the greater community can give back by supporting senior living communities? We realize that this question might be daunting to some, so we have come up with a few ideas to help!
Student Volunteers
Student VolunteersFor someone with contacts in the education system, this might be the easiest way to brighten someone’s day in one of our communities. We often have grade school groups of all ages visit our communities and interact with our staff and residents. Symphonic or marching bands often visit to play live music, or even choral groups will stop by (especially around the holidays).
We also see groups of student volunteers who are interested in learning more about medical careers. Other ideas for students include: art clubs creating decorations for our buildings, students volunteering to plant flowers or serve food, or even elementary school groups can come in and read stories with our residents. Girl/Boy Scout groups have volunteered time with us and theater clubs have come to visit and perform for us. For us to coordinate with schools, it is often as easy as getting a school group leader in touch with one of our Activity Directors to work out the details.
Adult Volunteers
There are many ways for an adult to volunteer with one of our communities, even if he or she does not have a family member in a senior living community. We are happy to coordinate with businesses that support their employees who choose to volunteer their time in the community. Our Jamestowne community had a great time with the Y-12 volunteers who came to plant flowers and fix up the garden beds!
Our Activity Directors are also always looking for live entertainment options for our residents. Do you happen to know a local choir, musician, singer, or other entertainer? Do you happen to be one yourself? Contact one of our Activity Directors to see if we can schedule a performance!
Our residents love interacting with animals—cuddling a cute puppy can brighten almost anyone’s day! Do you have an animal that serves as a therapy pet? We believe that therapy animals help brighten our residents’ moods and promote better wellbeing overall.
Other Ways to Give Back
One of the easiest ways to support our communities starts with the click of a button. Check out our local communities on Facebook. We often post upcoming events, which are often open to the entire community. For example, our River Oaks Place in Lenoir City is looking forward to a “Spooktacular” Halloween party on Thursday, October 29th. Just by showing up to these types of events, community members can make a great positive impact on the moods of our residents and staff who have been looking forward to the festivities.
Not sure what your local senior living community needs? Give us a call and find out! Our Activity Directors are always willing to chat about how volunteers can get involved. We thank you for it, and we know our residents appreciate it.
