On Saturday, November 23, from 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM, the Roslyn Branch of AYLUS was joined by the Syosset Branch to volunteer at a CP Nassau Group Home in Levittown. 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, 2 members of the Roslyn Branch and 4 members of the Syosset Branch came up with fun activities for the residents. We started with baking. The residents were helped with making two trays of thumbprint cookies. While we were waiting for the cookies to finish baking, we started arts and crafts. We helped the residents decorate Christmas cards. We encouraged the residents to participate, helping them grab the pieces and put them on. After the cookies cooled down, everyone had at least 2 of them. Everyone loved them. The house was filled with cheers and excitement. After this, we played uno and bingo. This week’s captain Angelika said, “ All the volunteers did a great job today. We all had a lot of fun. The cookies turned out so well. Everyone really enjoyed it, including the staff. The residents were happy and wanted us to come back soon.”
These activities were fun, and challenging for the residents, and helped us get to know them better. For example, we learned that some residents were sleepy and didn’t want to engage as much as others. However, some other residents stayed engaged and active. One of the challenges was not being able to get one of the residents to do hands-on activities. We tried our hardest, but he kept hitting the objects away and pulling his hands in. We solved this problem by easing the objects into his hands and allowing him to take control.
Also, today is the second training session led by Roslyn Aylus members for Syosset Branch members. Some parents from the Syosset Branch also joined us. We are looking forward for more activities from the joint efforts of both Roslyn and Syosset Branches!
Members who participated include:
Reporter: Leo Zheng
- Leo Zheng -3 hours
- Angelika Jiang- 3 Hours
- Elva Chen (Syosset)- 3 Hours
- Kingston Lu (Syosset)- 3 hours
- Brian Li (Syosset)- 3 hours
- Geyan Lou (Syosset)3 hours
