Greeting cards brighten lives for nursing home residents

Area nursing home residents were recently shown that there are people out there who care about them and want to brighten their lives a bit.

The Madison County Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), in conjunction with libraries throughout the Madison County area, held Card Creation sessions the week of Jan. 13 to tie in with RSVP's Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service observance. Those colorful cards were then delivered to nursing home residents at three local facilities to share a bit of joy and remind them that someone was thinking of them.

The libraries offered the chance for young and old alike to create the cards that would soon be in the hands of their nursing home friends. Participants included the Canastota Public Library, the Cazenovia Public Library, the DeRuyter Free Library, the Hamilton Public Library, the Morrisville Public Library, the New Woodstock Free Library, the Oneida Public Library and the Sullivan Free Library in Chittenango and Bridgeport.

"The representatives at the libraries in Madison County and our RSVP volunteers have just been so gracious and terrific in implementing these Card Creation events throughout the week," RSVP executive director Annette Clark said.

Cards were then distributed Feb. 6 at the Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing facility in Chittenango, Feb. 10 at the Oneida Healthcare Extended Care Facility in Oneida and Feb. 12 at the Crouse Community Center in Morrisville.

Clark said the Card Creation event was a product of brainstorming by the RSVP Advisory Council, of which New Woodstock library manager Renee Beardsley is a member. Beardsley said a winter snowstorm might have kept people away from the library the night of her event, but she personally enjoyed coloring cards herself that would go out to the nursing home residents.

Locally, the Madison County Office for the Aging sponsors RSVP, which provides those 55 and older with meaningful volunteer opportunities. There are currently more than 150 RSVP volunteers who provide all kinds of services including transportation to medical appointments, support to food cupboards, providing free exercise classes for seniors, calling shut-ins, delivering meals within senior housing, offering literacy help and handling newsletter mailing.

"We thought this would be a fun activity for young and old while providing a service for some of our underserved population in the county," Clark said. "RSVP volunteers generously use their life experience to help make their communities better places to live."

For more information about RSVP volunteering opportunities, call 315-697-5700 or email RSVP@ofamadco.org.

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