jwilliams

Our weekly evening activity is BINGO. Sometimes I shedule music, church groups, etc to come in at that time. We also have Popcorn and a Movie every other week in the evening. The residents pick the movie and we enjoy popcorn and sodas/water.

I would, also, love to know what you have on your cart. This is a great idea that I would love to implement. Jenny fairymoonduster@yahoo.com

I recently started a group called Spinning Threads. My thought was to have residents socialize while working on their individual sewing, knitting, crocheting, etc. projects. I set us up to meet in an inviting room for one hour, once a week. My ladies love this group. One resident calls it her "Stitch & B***h" group. They chat about all sorts of things and it gets them out of their rooms and into a social setting. Hope this idea helps someone else! Jenny

I would ask those residents what type of activities that would attend and enjoy. See if you can't schedule or set up an activity or two based off of their suggestions. If they would like to go on outings see if they can gather a group of "x" amount to attend with them. At my facility the residents pay all or part of their ticket price for outings. See if they can pay for their tickets. Also, check around the community for programs that are free or have a minimal fee. A church in our area offers a Fine Arts Music Series and all they ask for is a free will donation. Some places will even offer group and or senior discounts. I hope this helps.

I'm always hesitant with new music groups (having been burned in the past). I would suggest that you call and see if they are interested in you sending a flyer (include any fees) with a demo. After a couple of weeks, I would call back and see if they had listened to the demo and if they would like to set up a date and time for you to come out for a performance.

We are in the process of starting a volunteer program. We have volunteers who come in and have a weekly music program for the residents. There are other volunteers who call BINGO and just have one to one visits.