Carmel High School Students Spread Sunshine and Joy to Nursing Home Residents

Spring is almost here and well wishes are on the way from Carmel High School to residents at the Plaza at Clover Lake senior living facility in Carmel Hamlet.

For the last two years, students supported by the speech and language groups and PACE program at the high school have been hand-creating cards and bags of candy for residents of the facility for five different holidays and seasons throughout the year – Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter/Spring and Summer. The effort has been funded by a grant awarded to Laura Blaha, speech language pathologist at the high school, from the Community Foundations of Hudson Valley.

It takes the students almost one month to assemble approximately 150 cards and bags for all the residents. They work on the cards between other lessons as a way to reinforce important learned skills such as following directions, counting and sorting, writing and drawing.

“We try to think of creative projects that are meaningful to the students,” said Blaha. “Our students benefit from re-teaching and practice to prepare them to go out in the community to work and volunteer as adults. This gives them an opportunity for that practice.”

Prior to the pandemic, the students would visit the nursing home every couple of months to play games such as Bingo with the residents – an opportunity for community connections that they look forward to having again sometime in the future.

“During COVID we could not get out into the community and do jobs like we used to, so the cards gave the students a chance to practice some skills,” said Blaha.

The students plan to have their spring cards complete and delivered to the residents in early to mid-April.

Blaha was recently re-awarded the grant for another year to continue and expand the project. She is looking into having the students also create cards for local veterans through the Castle Point VA Medical Center in Wappingers Falls.

“We hope we are doing something to make people happy. Personally, I feel like I am making a little bit of a difference. Our students do know and understand that the cards are for the nursing home residents, and they will talk about it.”