By Mindy Ragan Wood
Staff Writer
Yukon High School students turned up on Tuesday at the Center of Family Love in Okarche to spread some Christmas cheer with the residents.
The teens brought supplies to do a snowman craft and books to read with residents.
Rene Shoaf, special education teacher for YHS, said her class introduces the world of special needs children and adults to students who are interested in their care and development.
“I started a new class this year called Peer to Peer for students,” she said. “It’s like a mini-special education boot camp. I have students who want to go into nursing, work with special needs people, or become speech and language pathologists or physical therapists.
We talk about how to work with the kids in the first part of the class and then they will to go to special education classrooms throughout the district. For other students who take the class it’s great because in everyday life we run into special needs people in the community.”
Residents in the new St. Andre living center peeked around corners and found their way to tables with the eager teenagers. The room was full of smiles as they worked with the volunteers to use small electric tea lights and decorations to build a snowman ornament for each resident. Some CFL residents placed their ornaments on a tree and others kept them to display in their rooms. After the craft teens read two picture books to the residents.
Assistant Administrator Shelly Bowker said the gesture means more than people may realize.
“They love to entertain, and it means a lot to them,” she said. “They like to get out there and show people who they are. They enjoy the interaction and seeing new people. They know all of us, the staff and we’re like family to them so they enjoy new faces.”
The Center of Family Love has a wide variety of volunteer opportunities throughout the year. Other volunteer opportunities include playing board games, reading to residents, and doing crafts or teaching sign language. The center needs at least 100 sets of hands on deck during the Gift of Love Gala every year. “Honey-do” lists are always ready to be taken care of with plumbing, electrical, dry-wall, framing and tiling. The center is also in the midst of a Christmas gift drive through the Amazon Smile Wish list program. Shoppers can purchase gifts through the Center of Family Love’s page and the items will be shipped to the center for the resident who requested it.
