Cupcaking!!

Making my 4th visit at Aegis Living, I once again volunteered by myself on a Wednesday afternoon. Entering Nikki's office, the activity directer, I passed by the activity room and witnessed that the elders were finishing up their bingo game. When I met up with Nikki, Alexis, a volunteer from Kennedy High School, was already there helping Nikki. Nikki finally game me a volunteer nametag and she started talking to Alexis and I on the day's afternoon activities.

After we helped clean up the bingo supplies, we got some tables ready to decorate cupcakes with the elders. As we told everyone to wash their hands and take a sit, I witnessed something cute and amusing. Dorothy, one of the elders, stole one of the cookies on a stick that was on the counter, took the stick out, put the cookie in her mouth, and walked out of the activity room. As I watched her, I started to smile and was very entertained by the fact that elders like them do sometimes act like little kids, craving sweets. Moving on, as everyone took their seat, we guided the elders as they decorated their cupcakes using icing, white chocolates, and some dots. After we finished up with the cupcakes and took some quick pictures, Alexis, Jennifer, another volunteer, and I cleaned up the tables. Afterwards, we set up the tables for some card games with the elders. I went to the lobby and asked the elders if they wanted to play. As they said yes, we all walked back to the activity room and sat around in a circle. For the next hour of laughter and intense playing, two rounds of gold fish passed. It was a fun experience for me since I think that was the very first time I have ever played gold fish. Playing with the elders was an interesting experience as well. Like how we would play it, they were competative and even had their own tricks. "Okay does anybody have a King?," Dorothy, one of the elders, would joke around. Lastly, out of the 2 games, none of the three volunteers won either one of them. As we wrapped up the last game so the elders can prepare for their dinner, Alexis, Jennifer, and I cleaned up the chairs and tables. Lastly, for the last 45 minutes of our shift, the 3 of us took the time to help out in the kitchen and pass out food to the elders as we went around and started conversations with them.

Overall, for my last blog post, I highly recommend volunteering in places like Aegis Living. Being way too common in our soviety, Elderly Abuse is an issue that we must all try to work hard on preventing. Even though it is something we dont see very often, elders around us are being mistreated in multiple ways. Moreover, I think elderly abuse is one of the worst kind of abuses there is because in most situations, they are very helpless and cannot protect themselves. Resolving this, I think volunteering in places like the Aegis Living, we are able to make a difference to the lives of some elders. We can have the oppurtunity to create a relationship and experience that both the elders and us will treasure and remember. Even though we cant prevent stopping elderly abuse altogether, we can atleast try to make a difference to the lives of the elders around us.

Barbara decorating her cupcake.












The finish product.










The elders with their decorated cupcakes.












Deena about to make another pair as we played gold fish.