Uniting locals with students
Time was all they asked for.
At Saturday’s One Campus-One Community event, residents of three assisted living homes valued that time to talk about past accomplishments, time to talk about their children and time to play a friendly game of bingo.
The event featured 55 Eastern students from numerous registered student organizations.
“I think we showed these people that (residents) in the Charleston area and all of us from the university care about senior citizens,” said Keith Wise, vice president of the Black Student Union. “This made me (think) about my own grandmother back home, and how I need to talk to her as much as I can because these moments are precious.”
Every resident eventually won twice and only twice. After listening to his bingo partner talk about her granddaughter, Wise gave his two prizes to her – though he was later reprimanded by a nurse for doing so.
“Putting that extra smile on someone’s face and making them laugh can go a long way because when you get in these types of situations, we tend to not smile or laugh as much anymore,” Wise said. “Bringing some joy and happiness, even for just a second, can really help them and that’s what we tried to accomplish today.”
Delvet Glen, activities assistant at Hilltop Convalescent Center, said the students were helpful even after bingo was over. Many of the residents stayed in the dining hall to celebrate a birthday, and Eastern students delivered the cake and juice to the tables.
“It’s good to give back and remember where we came from because we’re going to be in this place eventually and by us showing up now, hopefully, others will be inspired to come and give back in the future,” said Omar Solomon, director for BSU’s public and marketing affairs.
BSU also does regular community service by tutoring students in local elementary schools, Solomon said.
Other organizations that participated in Saturday’s event, aside from several Greek organizations, was the Resident Hall Association, the Latin-American Student Organization, the EIU College Democrats and Student Government.
“This is not something we have to do, but it’s not taking up our whole Saturdays to hang out here and have fun,” said BSU president Charrell Barksdale.
Rich Higgenbotham, chair of the One Campus-One Community committee and student vice president for student affairs, said he considers the event another success for the committee.
“I really feel like there was a lot of great interaction between the residents and the students,” Higgenbotham said. “I think both groups appreciated the time.”
And time was the only price the students had to pay for participating in the event and the lives of the residents.
“The residents were very happy that the students were here to spend time with them, and everyone had a smile on their face today,” Glen said.
Rick Kambic can be reached at 581-7942 or at rwkambic@eiu.edu.
Uniting locals with students
Freshman Nicole Frasor enjoys an exciting game of bingo during the Student Government’s “One Campus-One Community” program Saturday afternoon at Hilltop Assisted living facility. (Rick Kambic/The Daily Eastern News)
