On Saturday, March 23, 2024, from 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM, the Roslyn Branch of AYLUS
volunteered at a CP Nassau Group Home in Hicksville. CP Nassau (Cerebral Palsy Association
of Nassau County) is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to providing quality services for
children and adults with cerebral palsy. One of their programs is to provide residential life
services to adults in a healthy, safe and secure home-like living environment. The group home
that we volunteered at today has 5 residents present.
Today, 5 members of Roslyn Branch came up with fun activities for the patients. We started with
baking. The residents were helped with making one tray of brownies, one strawberry cake, and
one yellow cake. While we were waiting for the cakes to finish baking, we started arts and
crafts. We helped the residents decorate wooden bunnies, write the residents’ names with
stickers, and assisted the residents with free painting using paint brushes. When the baking was
done and was cooling off, we cleaned up the arts and crafts materials and displayed the
residents’ work to make the house festive. After, we added toppings to the cakes. We then cut
the cakes and brownies, and sat down with the residents and enjoyed the sweets with them.
The final activity was the connect-four game. We encouraged the residents to participate,
helping them grab the pieces and put them in. The house was filled with cheers and excitement.
These activities were fun, physically challenging for the residents, and helped us get to know
them better. For example, one of the residents loves to observe first, then we had to encourage
her to join the activities. She was surprisingly good at all of them, and she was beaming with
happiness when she finally joined the activities.
One of the challenges was disinterest from residents. One resident was not interested in any of
the activities. We tried to go hand over hand, but all she wanted was her music. Another
resident was not comfortable sharing the space with us. Therefore, at the end of the day, we
asked the employee at the residential home for suggestions. She suggested sensory activities,
such as a sensory bucket or fidgets. She also told us that we can read to the residents. This
learning experience is important because we get to know the residents, so that we can serve
them better. We also learned to value what the residents can do, not what they can’t.
Members who participated include:
Michael Zhang (3 hours), Leo Zheng (3 hours), Brooke Zheng (3 hours) Leah Chan (3 hours),
Angelika Jiang (3 hours)
Reporter: Leo Zheng
