On Saturday, March 7th, from 1 to 4 pm, 3 members of the AYLUS Roslyn branch visited CP Nassau’s Roosevelt residential home.
The residents and staff were very welcoming when we arrived. The three residents were very excited to see us and get started with the activities. We began with a craft to welcome spring: coloring an Easter egg! Each volunteer paired up with a resident to help them color in a wooden Easter egg of their choice. Some of the participants could color on their own, while others had the residents color for them, but each resident was able to choose the colors and design of their eggs, and they turned out nicely in the end. The residents had so much patience and said that the coloring was relaxing for them, so we did some more coloring with the other wooden cutouts we had brought. After that, we took a break from the art and made some friendship bracelets and necklaces. The volunteers helped the residents pick out bead colors and placements, and make the jewelry. The residents had a great time with this activity, and we ended up making two long necklaces, and many colorful bracelets. They even ended up exchanging the bracelets with each other, which was so nice to see. Next, we did a window art activity. Each resident chose a template (or more than one) and the volunteers helped them add different color paints to the templates. When they dry, the residents will be able to put them up on the windows and it will look like stained glass. We then cleaned up from all the crafts, and moved on to our final activity of the day, which was Uno. We each teamed up with a resident again, and worked together to decide the best strategy to get to Uno first. The residents played competitively but respectfully, congratulating the winners at the end. This was a fun way to end off our visit.
The residents thanked us for coming, having enjoyed the afternoon of crafts and a card game. We had a great time as well, and hope to come back soon!
Volunteers who participated (3 hours): Jason Wei, Connie Lin, Tess Cheng
Reporter: Connie Lin