I've wanted to find ways to encourage service and giving back with the girls for awhile now but it seems kid-friendly opportunities don't come around very often. I stumbled upon a listing for the first ever Love Riverside Serve Day yesterday and signed the girls and myself up for an opportunity to give back to the Riverside community. It's actually a really awesome idea where organizations throughout the City request help with their certain project for the day and then volunteers choose which project interests them to complete.
Our project was doing crafts and activities at a local senior citizen center. The girls were excited as soon as I told them about the day. The center was the perfect introduction for the girls into volunteering. The facility was very nice, the workers were friendly and their interactions with the residents were very sweet to watch. The residents were thrilled to have visitors and even more so to have the kids there. We spent all morning decorating pumpkins, making Halloween and fall decorations for their rooms and painting. The girls loved going around to each lady, asking them if they wanted a bat, cauldron, ghost or pumpkin decoration and then getting all the supplies and creating their piece in front of them. The women all loved what the girls created for them. Lucy & Olivia were shy at first but quickly warmed up and got brave enough to talk to almost all the residents around.
This lady was so thrilled with the cauldron decoration Lucy made for her and wanted her to write her name on it and then told her she would hang it in her room where she has all her pictures of her important relatives. She also requested to take a picture with Lucy. Such a sweetie!
My other favorite lady was Hazel. The workers introduced her as a former painter. As I began talking to her about painting the worker told me there were pictures hanging in the hallway that she had painted. I took the girls over to look at them and they were amazing! Hazel has such talent! Our favorite painting of hers was a large canvas with a detailed painting of a home scene with a little girl jumping rope in front of a big house where you could see the activities of the other members of the family. When we went back to compliment Hazel on her paintings she told us that painting was her family home in Minnesota with her jumping rope, her brother working on the car, her mother sitting on the porch and her father doing yard work. She loved showing off her work and told the girls they could paint like that too someday.
When we left for the afternoon the first thing Lucy asked is if we can do that again next year. They both said they loved it and liked making things for the seniors. I hope to find other opportunities in the future to continue to show them how important it is to give back to the community and volunteer in various ways. They were so sweet in their interactions with all the residents and made my heart very happy.
Our project was doing crafts and activities at a local senior citizen center. The girls were excited as soon as I told them about the day. The center was the perfect introduction for the girls into volunteering. The facility was very nice, the workers were friendly and their interactions with the residents were very sweet to watch. The residents were thrilled to have visitors and even more so to have the kids there. We spent all morning decorating pumpkins, making Halloween and fall decorations for their rooms and painting. The girls loved going around to each lady, asking them if they wanted a bat, cauldron, ghost or pumpkin decoration and then getting all the supplies and creating their piece in front of them. The women all loved what the girls created for them. Lucy & Olivia were shy at first but quickly warmed up and got brave enough to talk to almost all the residents around.
This lady was so thrilled with the cauldron decoration Lucy made for her and wanted her to write her name on it and then told her she would hang it in her room where she has all her pictures of her important relatives. She also requested to take a picture with Lucy. Such a sweetie!
My other favorite lady was Hazel. The workers introduced her as a former painter. As I began talking to her about painting the worker told me there were pictures hanging in the hallway that she had painted. I took the girls over to look at them and they were amazing! Hazel has such talent! Our favorite painting of hers was a large canvas with a detailed painting of a home scene with a little girl jumping rope in front of a big house where you could see the activities of the other members of the family. When we went back to compliment Hazel on her paintings she told us that painting was her family home in Minnesota with her jumping rope, her brother working on the car, her mother sitting on the porch and her father doing yard work. She loved showing off her work and told the girls they could paint like that too someday.
When we left for the afternoon the first thing Lucy asked is if we can do that again next year. They both said they loved it and liked making things for the seniors. I hope to find other opportunities in the future to continue to show them how important it is to give back to the community and volunteer in various ways. They were so sweet in their interactions with all the residents and made my heart very happy.
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| They wanted to take pictures with the bean bag toss station |
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| Painting |
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