The point of service

With Joy School we decided to go to a nursing home and visit the elderly and sing them Christmas songs. Not very many of the residents came out at first but then slowly a lot more trickled in.

What a wonderful experience. I was surprised by how comfortable they kids were. Sometimes Jasmine shys away in social situations but not this time. She went right up to the elderly people (with a little prompting) and said "Hi, I'm Jasmine" "What's your name?" and they asked her questions about her clothes and her age, etc. Then the kids sang and wow, the microphone brought out the singers in them because they all wanted to be the one to sing right into the mic. They sang Rudolph and Jingle Bells and Once there was a Snowman. Then after that they gave cards that they had made to the residents and gave some of them hugs.

You could tell it really made the elderly people's day to see the kids. It made me think of my Social Work classes when they would teach us about the importance of inter-generational connections and how important it is for old and young people to relate.

Afterwards one man handed out dimes to all the kids, it was so cute!

Another man, after Jasmine gave him a hug, said "she gave me my Christmas present!".

I felt really good about the experience and think it would be fun to get a group of preschoolers to do this every year. It didn't take much for us but it meant a lot to them. And it made us both feel better afterwards. I guess that's the point of service.