On March 25, the Diversity Club went to Chase Nursing Home to hand out carnations and join in to play bingo.
Megan Kinnamam, the activity director for Chase Nursing Home, explained being reached out to by the Diversity Club for a visit.
“We just chatted, and she let me know what you had planned, and I think that it was a fantastic idea,” Kinnamam said. “Our residents really loved that, as I said, they love visitors, so I knew these blooms for the room would brighten their day.”
Elisa Banuelos, one of the sponsors for the Diversity Club, described the visit to the nursing home as coming from the club’s history.
“Before COVID-19, the Diversity Club visited a nursing home every month to play bingo with the residents,” Banuelos said. “We had to stop these visits to keep the residents and our students safe during the pandemic. However, it was always our plan to go back. We wanted to restart this wonderful activity to help our members grow and make new memories.”
Senior Janet Bautista talked about the opportunities that the visit has provided for her and her classmates.
“This trip has provided me with the opportunity to explore a new place and a chance to get involved in my community,” Bautista said. “For me, I got the chance to connect with other classmates whom I rarely get to connect with.”
Banuelos described the many experiences and skills that students can gain from volunteering.
“By volunteering, students learn important skills like leadership and service ethics,” Banuelos said. “I am sure our members enjoy these activities because they help them develop into kind and responsible young adults. These are memories and skills they will keep for the rest of their lives.”
Being the activity director for only a year, Kinnaman hasn’t experienced the Diversity Club coming to volunteer at the nursing home.
“We never had a group of young students come in here since I’ve been here, so I think it’s really neat that students want to come and be a part of this and see the environment,” Kinnaman said. “I think that you can learn a lot about kindness and compassion and things like that just by being around the residents, so I think it’s a great thing.”
The Diversity Club participates in many different activities, such as translators for the elementary schools and helping out in school events.
“Yes and no in the sense that we do community service trips, yes, but not in the sense that we go often to nursing homes and volunteer,” Bautista said.
Kinnamam believes that having volunteers helps the residents’ mood and is good to have around to help out.
“We do a lot of fun things,” Kinnamam said. “We play a lot of bingo and cards and dice, and a lot of times I think that the residents like the fresh face, the young spunky person that comes here. You know, really, we have a job to do, we have to make sure it gets completed, but some residents would be happy to sit and chat. I often thought about what if we did adopt a senior or something, and you had kids adopt someone and then come in and do visits because a lot of people do have family that comes in and visits as well as friends, and then a lot of people don’t.”
Banuelos described ways that the Diversity Club is planning on making more opportunities for community service hours.
“We are planning to ‘adopt’ the Chase Center as our main place to volunteer,” Banuelos said. “We want to bring joy to the residents in many ways, such as playing bingo together, helping out during craft days and delivering flowers, like our recent project: ‘A bloom for your room, a smile for your heart.’ We are very excited about all the great things we can do for the people at Chase Center.”
The Diversity Club provides many different opportunities as a way to give back to the community for students, including Bautista.
“I would love to have more opportunities to get involved in my community, either by helping with an event or just doing acts of kindness like this event,” Bautista said.
