On Saturday, November 2, 2024, from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, Aylus volunteers from Roslyn and Great Neck branches went to a residential house in Wantagh to assist residents with Cerebral Palsy. Cerebral Palsy is a condition in which the brain doesn’t develop fully and it affects a person’s ability to control their muscles.
When we arrived at the residential home, we greeted everyone and introduced ourselves. After introducing ourselves, we began our first activity which was baking. We planned two cakes: chocolate and vanilla. We started out by aiding the residents when they poured in the ingredients. We also held their hands to combine all of the ingredients into one big cake batter. They stirred the mixture happily. The residents had a great time helping us create the cakes.
While waiting for the cakes to finish baking, we played bingo. We helped each resident fill up their boards with tiny circular spots. Bingo is a fun game. It practices people’s hands, eyes, and brains. We played several rounds. The residents were excited when they had a full card.
When the cake was ready, everyone dug in. We cut the cake into very small pieces for the residents to eat. It was believed by everyone that the cake was very delicious.
Subsequently, we helped the residents with arts and crafts. First, we painted picture frames and then we decorated cards. The residents choose so many amazing colors to paint their picture frames. We helped them paint the picture frames. When we started creating the cards we helped the residents choose the stickers that they wanted to put onto their cards. Some wanted to stick on birthday stickers and others wanted to put on Thanksgiving stickers. We also wrote each resident’s name onto their card in case they wanted to gift their card to a loved one.
Even though we have already done a lot of activities, we still learned that it is easy to work with others as a team. We hope to keep up the good work and come back again!
Volunteers: Leo Zheng (3 hours, R), Haoyang Sun (3 hours, GN), Maggie Xiao (3 hours, GN), Kyle Shih (3 hours, R), Michael Zhang (3 hours, R)
Reporter: Michael Zhang
