On Saturday, March 9th, from 1:00 – 4:00 pm, the Roslyn Branch went to 41 Colonial Drive, Farmingdale, which was run by Cerebral Palsy Association of Nassau County.
When we first got to 41 Colonial Drive, we were welcomed into the house and brought to the kitchen/dining room. Our plan was to make banana bread with the residents and play games with them. Each volunteer brought ingredients for making the bread or brought games to play. We brought flour, sugar, eggs, bananas, and equipment for making the bread, with the flour and sugar being in pre measured portions. We gave each resident a chance to help make the batter, from mashing the bananas to mixing all the ingredients together. After we finished making the batter and put it in the oven, we did some arm exercises with the residents, which they all put a lot of effort into. We then all paired up with one of the residents and helped them play Uno while the bread baked. We all had a fun time, and by the end of the game the bread was finished baking. We prepared the bread differently for each resident and tried a little bit for ourselves and it was delicious. After finishing the bread we played connect 4 with the residents. They played against us and each other and it was very fun to watch. We ended our visit by making collages with the residents by cutting and glueing on animals and flowers, which turned out very beautifully. From this visit we learned how to work together with the residents to make them feel less constrained and alone by baking them bread and playing games with them.
Max Li (3hrs), Angelika Jiang (3hrs), Brian Xiong (3hrs), Michael Zhang (3hrs), Serena Chen (3hrs)
Reporter – Brian Xiong
