The Christian Challenge Club at Ivy Tech - Bloomington recently hosted a food drive challenge and the results are in… over 1000 food items were donated:
Ecology Club - 235 Items
Christian Challenge - 218 Items
Student Ambassadors - 202 Items
Phi Theta Kappa - 61 Items
College Democrats - 47 Items
Student Government Association - 23 Items
1st Floor Employees - 182 Items
2nd Floor Employees - 62 Items
TOTAL ITEMS DONATED: 1,030
Note: This story was submitted to the Rally Call Blog through the Center for Civic Engagement by Ivy Tech Nursing students Cheryl Hodge and Srimala Thinsan.
We went to Garden Villa nursing home and led a recreational activity group with twenty Alzheimers clients. We made crazy funny hats, (out of everything imaginable) and put them on our heads while listening to music. We also did a bowling game.
The events started out with feelings of, “I just want to go back to my room”, and within a very short time there were abundant smiles all around. Leading by example we put on the first silly hats and started asking others to put on a hat also. Very reluctantly the clients’ started to comply and soon we couldn’t make hat’s quick enough. Everyone wanted to wear a hat. We sang, clapped and danced to the music in our crazy hats having a grand time. Most clients were in wheelchairs but their hands were clapping and toes tapping. The bowling game was a regular with the clients and everyone excitedly took turns trying to get a strike. We cheered and clapped with each turn and hated to end the game for lunch.
We left knowing human beings, no matter their declining capabilities due to Alzheimer’s disease, enjoy a feeling of accomplishment and companionship. We had great pleasure living in the moment, enjoying each other’s company. The staff took pictures of several clients in their hats, and the clients were having a wonderful time posing for the camera. Everyone wants to feel special and important.
The positive results of this opportunity will stay with us long after our educational degree is obtained. This project reinforces the fact that being a nurse involves so much more then the ability to care for someone’s physical needs.
Cheryl Hodge
Srimala Thinsan
I hope that the love that I have in my heart for those suffering from Alzheimer’s was felt by those I spent time with. I wear my silly hat in memory of my Grandma Drew and my Grandma Ramage, who both suffered many years with this devastating disease.
Cheryl
