5 Holiday Service Projects for Anderson Indiana Youth Organizations

Looking for a service project for your youth group or youth organization this holiday season? Area nursing homes and senior care organizations are always in urgent need of volunteers for a wide variety of needs, from simple visits to shut ins to organizing an entire special event for a long term care facility.

In Anderson Indiana and Madison County, there are many senior care in need of service projects by youth this Christmas season. If your youth group or youth organization enjoys their service project with seniors, consider making it a monthly or even quarterly commitment to visit again.

Here are five simple and easy ideas for service projects your youth group or youth organization could do with seniors this holiday season.

First service project: Contact Life Streams in Anderson and Madison County to volunteer to do yard clean up and simple household tasks like washing windows, repairing rotting steps, or cleaning houses for seniors that are shut-ins. For this project Life Streams will arrange for your visit with needy area seniors and your group will be told what activity needs to be done at that house. Have a representative committee meet with Life Streams ahead of time to schedule the day for your workday project on a Saturday before Thanksgiving for your group service project.

Second Service Project: Contact one of the Anderson area retirement centers listed below to see if there are seniors who need help with Christmas cards or Christmas letters being sent. Often their handwriting is difficult to do because of arthritis or vision problems but teams of youth could work with various seniors to help them send out their annual Christmas cards and letters, an activity that seniors really enjoy doing. Your group could also run shopping errands for various seniors in retirement centers who aren't able to get out of their homes to do their own shopping.

Third service project: Working with your minister of your church or a local group of churches in Anderson or Madison county, compile a list of seniors who have few or no family members living close by and plan on preparing Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners to be delivered the day before. Plan a menu that can be reheated in microwave or ovens easily, complete with all the trimmings. Your service project would be to secure the list of names, figure out funding for the meal -whether by securing donations, or having church members donate food items, plan a men, prepare the foods on a workday and deliver them at the end of that day in personal visits.

Fourth service project: Contact one of the area nursing long term care facilities in Anderson or Madison County, listed below and make arrangements for your youth group organization to visit with a caroling party. Ask the activity director at the facility for a list of names of residents and simple dollar gift ideas that your youth group could either purchase or seek donations for gifts. Wrap the gifts and bring them along to distribute at the caroling party, along with bringing some treats that have been approved by the nursing facility.

Fifth service project: Contact the veterans organizations in the Anderson area and make up care packages for aged senior veterans who have served their country. Make plans to visit the veterans on your list during a day trip to each of them. Bring care packages and say thank you to them. They have helped to preserve the way of life that each of you as youth enjoy today.

If you don't live in Anderson or Madison County Indiana, the above suggestions for youth service projects are still good ones for any area of our country. Senior citizens truly enjoy the presence of young people, but all too often the feeling is not reciprocated because youth often disdain seniors as old and useless and not interesting. We need to encourage youth to transcend those stereotypes and understand how truly wonderful a friendship and relationship with a senior can be.

Anderson and Madison County Retirement Centers that need Christmas or holiday youth group service projects

Keystone Woods Assisted Living: 765-642-8020
Bethany Pointe Health Campus: 765-641-1211
Fall Creek Retirement Center in Pendleton: 765-77-2384
Southdale Tower in Anderson: 765-642-4917
Village at White River in Anderson: 765-622-7703

Anderson and Madison County Nursing Facilities that need Christmas or holiday youth group service projects

Community Long Term Care: 765-298-2540

Community Parkview in Elwood: 765-552-9984

Edgewater Woods: 765-644-0903

Meadowbrook Rehabilitation Centre: 765-649-2532

Rawlins House in Pendleton: 765-778-7501

Alexandria Care Center: 765-724-4478

Middletown Nursing Center: 765-354-2223

Lifestreams of Madison County Senior Services http://volunteer.united-e-way.org/uwomc-4/org/10333808087.html

Resources used
Betty Malone, Certified Activity Director State of Indiana