Today’s youth often get a bad reputation.
And if you lump them all into that category, nobody would see that it is not all young people who would rather not put themselves out there for the benefit of others.
That is where three hockey teams, players ranging in age from 11-14 years old, come into this story.
All members of the Southern Shore Breakers association in Witless Bay, the teams, two peewee and one bantam level, made separate trips to Alderwood Estates Retirement Home recently to help the residents with several activities, complete a Feed the Birds function, and enjoy games and music.
“Our group of four coaches got together and discussed what we could do to get the kids together in something during the holiday season,’’ said Cory Park, coach of the Southern Shore Breakers white peewee team.
“What better way to do that than with seniors. We looked at the homes in the area and approached Renee (Houlihan at Alderwood Estates) with the idea and she simply said to us, ‘just come by.’”
Park said he wanted to know what the players could do for the seniors and they came up with the idea for his group to arrive dressed as mummers in the tradition most of the seniors experienced throughout their lives.
This was met with vast approval as the players came in and, true to the old traditions, were dancing with the residents and “having a time.”
“It was great to see how well that went off. The seniors had fun and the kids did too,’’ Park said.
After leaving Alderwood, Park said, it was interesting to listen to the players and what they experienced, and it was heartening for everyone to hear what came out of those conversations.
He said the players felt it was such a great thing, they should do it more often, not just at Christmas, and are planning on a return visit in the new year.
“These groups approached us wanting to come by the facility and do something for the residents,’’ said Houlihan, the recreation director at Alderwood Estates.
“We were more than happy to have them do so, as we are a pretty active group here and are always looking for ways to help the residents live while they are here.’’
She said the residents were treated to a host of activities during the three separate visits, and those included a bingo game which the players jumped right in and participated in. They brought individual Christmas stockings for each resident to open, they helped the residents prepare bird food and place it in the tree outside the home for the Feed the Birds project that has become a mainstay for residents and were treated to a concert by recording artist Brianna Harte, who was accompanied on piano by her grandmother, Mary Harte, who happens to be a resident of Alderwood Estates.
In addition, the players did crafts with the residents, shared in a variety of traditional snacks like Purity syrup and fruitcake and had good old-fashioned conversations in which they learned a bit about each other.
To commemorate their visit, the Southern Shore Breakers peewee white team, who made a visit to the Alderwood Retirement Centre on Dec. 16, completed a video featuring clips of the visit and the activities completed to mark the occasion.
The video has already been viewed more than 6,100 times and can be seen online at
https://www.facebook.com/regan.power/videos/10156741566626341/
