heavenstar

Im sorry--don't know what happened--and now I can't erase this.

I have been at my job for 4 yrs now and have for the first time experienced burn-out. This job took longer than my previous jobs working with kids, because I love this one so much. I went to my residents during a program meeting and begged them to give me a big job! I told them "Let's have a huge Party! With lots of planning and manual labor for me!!!" So next week, We are having a very early Volunteer Appreciation dinner with the Theme of the Oscars. Giving me something big to focus on brings in my creative side, gives me something to fill my days and is a different twist than my usual. Believe it or not, I am not that busy usually. My resident volunteers handle most of the activities, and I spend a lot of my time sitting in front of my computer or visiting with residents. Don't get me wrong, I love it and am not complaining, but it gets boring doing the same thing day after day.

We have a showcase set up in our lobby that sells Jewelry and small odds and ends for a cheap price as our fund-raiser. Most items are donated or come from dollar stores, garage sales, ebay, and thrift stores. We buy them very cheap, clean them up if needed, and sell them for a higher price. It is staffed by resident volunteers who take this job very seriously. It is the best fund-raiser I know of. We make around $500-600 dollars a month! We are only open about 7 hours a week too! Last year, we bought a brand new piano, and we have plans for buying new computers for our computer room this month. It also enables us to have better entertainment, pay for our movies, breakfasts, and trips. Everything we do is funded by our Residents' Council and this fund-raiser has helped us in so many ways and benefits all of our residents! It is a good thing!

We have an Organic Garden at our Facility that the residents help with. I buy the veggies and plant them, the residents water them and then sell the produce for a fund- raiser. It works out great because there are so many benefits to having a garden. We also sell the veggies just a little over the grocery store prices because we are "organic". We have made about $40 so far this season and have several months left. It only cost about $50 to get it started this year too, so we will come out ahead. The first year we had our garden, Chase Bank donated $1000 for all materials and plants and they even came out to help us plant everything. So now all we need is soil, fertilizer, and plants to keep up our garden.

That sounds like so much fun! Be sure to get some haybales for them to sit on! We are doing a father's day breakfast--nothing big. Just serving bagels with lox and coffee. Everyone seems to like it, and it fits in great with our budget. This will be our second year to do anything for Father's day--last year, we had entertainment and gave each man a small bottle of Vodka, which of course they loved, even though I had a lot of issues giving everyone alcohol and no alternatives for those that don't drink. But this year is much better.

Sammons, Preston, Rolyan, an Ability One Company has them. Phone # is 1-800-323-5547. They are called fun buttons---package of 12 is $9.79 Order number is H9603-02

Every day I come to this site looking for new ideas and ways to cope with residents. Everyday I read what most of you have to go through with assistants, DON's, state, CNA's and the residents themselves. I don't know how you do it. You are all very dedicated and wonderful, and it is obvious you care very much. I know I couldn't do it. I have no training as an Activity Director, have never been to a cert class, I get paid pretty good and I work in Independent Living, meaning if the residents do not want to come to an activity, then they just don't come. I am not responsible for getting them to come, seeing how they are or having 1:1's. Most of the activities are held by the residents who volunteer. There is very little paperwork on my part also. I am thankful everyday that I get to have this job for another day. I love my staff and all of my residents. Ok, most of my residents.... Just know that you guys do a wonderful job and be thankful that you have a place to post your problems and hopefully get a new and fresh idea that just might help. If nothing else, having people listen to you. I know I do.

Ok, I have a great problem! 100 high school kids will come and do community service on one day in July. I have 380 residents. What can they all do? My residents are IL and I will probably only get 30 people to show up for an event. So I would like something different. It was suggested to me that the kids go to each apartment and clean the top of thier refrigerator or their windows, but honestly, that is boring and I don't know anyone who would want to do that! That may also violate privacy issues, false accusations (or true accusations) that something was stolen or whatever,.....I don't know, HELP!!! I would love to have it all in a common room so that I can keep an eye on the kids and residents....can't trust many people these days... So how do you keep 100 high school kids busy at one time???

Thanks guys! I have been afraid in the past to have a party that dealt with thier culture--because I really don't know anything about it, and reading and researching isn't always the way to get a clear picture! But I could always ask the residents to plan and put it together and I could just help out. Although, I have tried in the past to do something for Chinese New Year---but the residents told me they didn't want a chinese party because they are americans now, and the chinese community center couldn't help me either. so i didn't want to show favoritism by only doing one culture's party, but maybe that will get them motivated. We do have a newsletter (in one language only) but the Chinese translates it and puts the chinese version on the bulletin board and the Russians have a Russian Club where they can have it translated there. They ask for the newsletter to be translated when we run copies, but my boss has always said no (and I agree!) Almost everyone goes to an English Class where they could get help to, so I don't see why I should make twice the work for myself when they have several resources. Needless to say, this is a very frustrating situation for me, but it is also exciting and never boring--which is why I am still here after 4 years! ha ha. Thanks a lot for your advice!

I work in Independent Living and have very little participation for the number of residents. I would guess about 75 out of 380 participate on our bigger functions. I would like to have a dance of some kind along with a buffet and live music, but need a theme. The residents will not give me any clue as to what they would like. I don't want to repeat a theme either, so in the past, We had a masquerade ball, senior prom, big band 40's theme and a luau. The masquerade was probably the best turn-out, although getting them to make a mask was a nightmare! Just about everyone here is from another country--mostly Russian and Chinese, and a cultural theme or language is always a problem! For example, I tried to throw a Superbowl party and had NO ONE!!! Same thing with a Mardi-Gras Party! Help!!!

We had an oscar party last year for our volunteers and it looked wonderful! Your theme will too! For table decorations, I took a round flat styrofoan and covered the sides in gold ribbon. on the top, poked gold and black shiny tissue paper all over. Then a clear rod about 2 feet through the middle. On top of that, another smaller styrofoam disk with tissue paper. A cardboard disk was cut out to look like a movie reel, then glittered gold. We took long strips of negatives or unsed film rolls and added to it, wrapping around the clear pole. They were beautiful. I can email you a picture with it if you like (afutch@gbbt.org). Another idea we used is to give everyone an oscar. A toy action figure painted gold and glued to a black upside-down cup. We also put a gold label on the cup for what they did---or just their name. We also took pictures when they were walking down the red carpet and sent them to the local newspaper.

We have the same thing here in Houston. It is called Urban Harvest. They will come out and help you plan your garden and they offer free classes on what to plant for our geographic location, how to start a community garden and any questions we had. I didn't find out about them until 2 years after we had our garden and we ran into several problems, but they were great. You can also buy seeds and plants from them for much cheaper than the stores, and it is all organic!

you could have a dog wedding---either with staff or resident dogs (or other animals who get along and would sit still, maybe iguana's or hamsters in a cage or something). Have a resident or staff member be the clergy, bridesmaids and groomsmen. let the ring be a dog treat, then have a reception afterwards with cake and punch. take pictures of the bride and groom with each guest and let that be thier keepsake from the wedding. the toilet paper idea is a good one, but leave the staff out of it--let the residents do it to each other if they are willing and able. you could also have wedding pix on a bulletin board and let the residents try to guess who is who. this could also open up a discussion into same sex marriages--get thier opinions on it. you could also have residents renew their vows (if anyone is married) or do a skit on a shot-gun wedding, show pictures of dennis rodman's wedding. ha ha hope this helps!

Hi! I am Angie (heavenstar) and I work in an Independent Living Facility for low income seniors. I have been here for almost 4 years and still having a blast! I am in charge of our computer center, newsletter, volunteers, parties, events, trips, outside programs, health fairs, meals and anything else they throw my way. I do not have an assistant or anyone else who helps me, but I do have about 50 volunteer residents who help at parties and selling tickets and other club events. Right now it is very slow and I want to have a big party of some kind. In the past we have done an Oscar's party, Senior Prom, Masquerade Ball, the Price is Right Game, and a few other themed parties. I will have about a $500 budget and need some different ideas--got any??? It will probably have to have dancing and music since they love that so much.