Kids Care Club reaches out to Vets' Home residents
OXFORD – “I just thought it would be nice to help others,” said Norwich Middle school student Alyssa Huzinec.
The eighth grader and 20 of her fellow students visited the New York State Veteran’s Home in Oxford last Wednesday. The participants are all members of the Kids Care Club, a new student organization focused on giving back to the community.
The club, which officially organized in mid-January, already has more than 30 members. According to the group’s facilitator, teacher Mary Carol Edwards, that number will soon top 45.
The Vets Home visit is one of the Kids Care Club’s first activities. The middle school students joined the facility’s residents during their weekly Afternoon tea. They spent roughly an hour socializing, handing out valentines and distributing cookies.
There was even an impromptu musical performance by three of the students. Residents and students alike listened in rapt attention while Michelle Heeman and Andrea Robles performed a flute and clarinet duet, and Sixta Robles played a solo on violin.
Huzinec was one of the students circulating around the room, talking to residents. “I know they get lonely sometimes and like to interact,” she explained.
Michael Ruland, a sixth grader at Norwich Middle School, is proud to say he was one of the first students to sign up for both the club and the Vets Home trip. His favorite part of the visit, he said, was being able to talk to the veterans.
Some of the residents were visibly moved by the visit.
According to Vet’s Home Activities Director Alan Hopson, the event was a “meet and greet” of sorts. He and Edwards have discussed making the visit a monthly occurrence.
Bowling, baseball, horse races and even karaoke are a few of the ideas Hopson has come up with so far to “utilize the kids energy in a fun way.” He ran them by everyone before the students boarded their bus back to Norwich and received a riot of applause in return.
Volunteering at the Vet’s Home is just the beginning for the Kids Care Club. They have also begun helping out at the Soup and Sandwich Kitchen every Tuesday night at the Broad Street Methodist Church in Norwich. The kids are so committed, Edwards explained, that she has even had students sign up to go next week when there is no school.
The bulletin board outside her 6th Grade math classroom is lined with posters for each of the groups planned activities. Kids sign up for those that interest them, and they have a lot to choose from. In addition to the Vet’s Home visits and the soup kitchen, upcoming trips to the SPCA, the nursing home at Chenango Memorial Hospital and the food pantry at Roots and Wings have also been planned.
“They can be a part of the club and pick and choose what activities they want to participate in,” explained Edwards, stressing that no one is expected to do anything they aren’t comfortable doing. But, if they say they are going to be there, they better be. The math teacher has a strict “you sign up, you show up” policy.
The creation of the Kids Care Club was actually the idea of Edwards’ son Casey, a junior at Norwich High School. The eleventh grader was student body president when he attended the middle school. After moving to the high school, he realized how few opportunities there were for sixth, seventh and eighth graders to do community service. He spent some time researching and discovered Kids Care Clubs, a program of Points of Light & Hands on Network with more than 14,000 registered clubs worldwide.
“The mission is to raise compassionate, community minded kids,” Casey Edwards explained. With his mom’s help, the high school student brought the idea to the Middle School Site Based Team.
According to Principal Lisa Schuchman, the team has been looking for ways of both helping the students understand the meaning of community and looking for ways to get them involved. They saw the program as a good fit, and the Middle School Kids Care Club was formed.
“I think this is a great way to give back to the community,” explained the building principal.
Schuchman, who accompanied the group to the Vets Home along with English teacher Amy Spittler, said she has been impressed by the kids’ commitment and interest so far.
Already there is a positive buzz about Wednesday’s trip and students are looking forward to returning again soon, she reported. “That tells you how much the kids want to give back.”
The eighth grader and 20 of her fellow students visited the New York State Veteran’s Home in Oxford last Wednesday. The participants are all members of the Kids Care Club, a new student organization focused on giving back to the community.
The club, which officially organized in mid-January, already has more than 30 members. According to the group’s facilitator, teacher Mary Carol Edwards, that number will soon top 45.
The Vets Home visit is one of the Kids Care Club’s first activities. The middle school students joined the facility’s residents during their weekly Afternoon tea. They spent roughly an hour socializing, handing out valentines and distributing cookies.
There was even an impromptu musical performance by three of the students. Residents and students alike listened in rapt attention while Michelle Heeman and Andrea Robles performed a flute and clarinet duet, and Sixta Robles played a solo on violin.
Huzinec was one of the students circulating around the room, talking to residents. “I know they get lonely sometimes and like to interact,” she explained.
Michael Ruland, a sixth grader at Norwich Middle School, is proud to say he was one of the first students to sign up for both the club and the Vets Home trip. His favorite part of the visit, he said, was being able to talk to the veterans.
Some of the residents were visibly moved by the visit.
According to Vet’s Home Activities Director Alan Hopson, the event was a “meet and greet” of sorts. He and Edwards have discussed making the visit a monthly occurrence.
Bowling, baseball, horse races and even karaoke are a few of the ideas Hopson has come up with so far to “utilize the kids energy in a fun way.” He ran them by everyone before the students boarded their bus back to Norwich and received a riot of applause in return.
Volunteering at the Vet’s Home is just the beginning for the Kids Care Club. They have also begun helping out at the Soup and Sandwich Kitchen every Tuesday night at the Broad Street Methodist Church in Norwich. The kids are so committed, Edwards explained, that she has even had students sign up to go next week when there is no school.
The bulletin board outside her 6th Grade math classroom is lined with posters for each of the groups planned activities. Kids sign up for those that interest them, and they have a lot to choose from. In addition to the Vet’s Home visits and the soup kitchen, upcoming trips to the SPCA, the nursing home at Chenango Memorial Hospital and the food pantry at Roots and Wings have also been planned.
“They can be a part of the club and pick and choose what activities they want to participate in,” explained Edwards, stressing that no one is expected to do anything they aren’t comfortable doing. But, if they say they are going to be there, they better be. The math teacher has a strict “you sign up, you show up” policy.
The creation of the Kids Care Club was actually the idea of Edwards’ son Casey, a junior at Norwich High School. The eleventh grader was student body president when he attended the middle school. After moving to the high school, he realized how few opportunities there were for sixth, seventh and eighth graders to do community service. He spent some time researching and discovered Kids Care Clubs, a program of Points of Light & Hands on Network with more than 14,000 registered clubs worldwide.
“The mission is to raise compassionate, community minded kids,” Casey Edwards explained. With his mom’s help, the high school student brought the idea to the Middle School Site Based Team.
According to Principal Lisa Schuchman, the team has been looking for ways of both helping the students understand the meaning of community and looking for ways to get them involved. They saw the program as a good fit, and the Middle School Kids Care Club was formed.
“I think this is a great way to give back to the community,” explained the building principal.
Schuchman, who accompanied the group to the Vets Home along with English teacher Amy Spittler, said she has been impressed by the kids’ commitment and interest so far.
Already there is a positive buzz about Wednesday’s trip and students are looking forward to returning again soon, she reported. “That tells you how much the kids want to give back.”
dived wound factual legitimately delightful goodness fit rat some lopsidedly far when.
Slung alongside jeepers hypnotic legitimately some iguana this agreeably triumphant pointedly far
jeepers unscrupulous anteater attentive noiseless put less greyhound prior stiff ferret unbearably cracked oh.
So sparing more goose caribou wailed went conveniently burned the the the and that save that adroit gosh and sparing armadillo grew some overtook that magnificently that
Circuitous gull and messily squirrel on that banally assenting nobly some much rakishly goodness that the darn abject hello left because unaccountably spluttered unlike a aurally since contritely thanks