Glaciers, Seniors, and Storage Units ... An Experiment in Family Volunteering Chapter 11

Our 11th Family Volunteering adventure was an event called “Undeck the Halls” at Glacier Hills Senior Living Community in Ann Arbor.  It was my wife Jennifer’s turn to select and frankly we were starting to struggle to come up with new volunteering experiences we could do as a family. As a result, this one felt like less of a personal connection and more like trying to give our boys a new experience in a place they had never been: a senior living community.

There are multiple senior living facilities in Ann Arbor, but most of the volunteering experiences they offer  require training and long-term commitments. Glacier Hills had an event in November to “Deck the Halls” to basically put up holiday decorations all over the facility.  Since my wife loves that time of year and usually goes a bit crazy on our own house, we thought it could be fun to help local seniors get in the holiday spirit and spread some cheer.

Unfortunately we were not able to support that event for a variety of reasons.  As a result, we were left with the opportunity to “Undeck the Halls” (i.e. take everything down).  I was worried this might be depressing for Jennifer since she always gets a bit sad when our decorations come down.  And I thought it might be amplified by hundreds of seniors experiencing the same emotion. On top of that, in my past experiences at senior living communities, they typically haven’t been the most vibrant and happy places.  So the experience was set up for success. :)

Fortunately, the boys and I somewhat enjoy taking the decorations down.  Not that we are overly helpful and will do it unsolicited, but upon request we’re all usually happy to help return the house to “normal” and use spaces the way we are used to.  Jennifer and I tried to prep the boys that the facility might feel like a hospital, smell a bit strange, and most likely everyone you see will want to talk to you and maybe even pinch your cheeks.  

We arrived for our 3 hour shift not quite knowing what to expect.  To my surprise, Glacier Hills was actually a lovely place full of life, natural light, and beautiful decorations.  There was plenty of activity / social spaces and most of our interactions were with the employees rather than the residents.  The seniors seemed quite content among themselves and basically cleared out of each new room we came to “undeck”. The mission of Glacier Hills is to “to serve older adults with a  continuum of lifestyle, care and support alternatives embracing enrichment of the whole person.” That sounds like pretty heavy corporate-speak but they seem to be doing a good job. I don't aspire to live in a senior living community, but if i had to, I would consider this one.

The first employee guiding us wanted every decoration to go in its' precise container of origin … and seemingly the precise portion of the container placed in the same direction.  At first this tested our patience a bit and the kids worried we were “doing it wrong”. As other less OCD employees helped, we were advised that as long as we put items that were displayed together back into containers in logical groupings, we were helping and it would be easy for the next year’s crew to decorate.

Over the course of the day, we established an efficient system for stripping down Christmas trees with each family member owning a quadrant and racing each other to clear it out.  We also developed our own organizational and packing system which at least made sense to us. And we became intimately familiar with the storage facility and how to maximize space … essentially packing a grocery store-sized building of decorations into a storage unit about the size of two British phone booths side by side.  We were pleased with ourselves.

It was different from what I expected, but still felt it was useful for our boys to experience a senior living facility.  We talked about why they should feel lucky that they have never had to visit one and that all of their grandparents are still with us and relatively healthy.  It’s not likely to be the volunteering experience any of us remember the most, but it was something new. And honestly, it was fun to spend three hours together working on a project to help other people, device-free and actually talking to each other.

This is Chapter 11 of a 12-part series on Family Volunteering.  Previous posts can be accessed below:

• Public Schools, Onesies, and the Joy of Dusting ... An Experiment in Family Volunteering Chapter 10  (Nov 2018)
• Teenagers, Music Production, and Ping Pong Balls ... An Experiment in Family Volunteering Chapter 9  (Oct 2018)
• Friends, Mud, and Sixteen Ditches ... An Experiment in Family Volunteering Chapter 8  (Sep 2018)
• Canoes, Trash, and Gang-Fighting Geese ... An Experiment in Family Volunteering Chapter 7  (Aug 2018)
• Vets, Cats, and Poor Craftsmanship ... An Experiment in Family Volunteering Chapter 6  (Jul 2018)
• Empathy, Respect, and a Little Fasting ... An Experiment in Family Volunteering Chapter 5 (Jun 2018)
• NAPing, Garlic Mustard, and a Glimpse into the Future ... An Experiment in Family Volunteering Chapter 4 (May 2018)
• Soccer Balls, Elementary Schools, and Community Support ... An Experiment in Family Volunteering Chapter 3 (Apr 2018)
• Employee Pride, Physical Labor, and Nasty Goop ... An Experiment in Family Volunteering Chapter 2 (Mar 2018)
• Q-tips, Peanut Butter, and a Deck of Cards ... An Experiment in Family Volunteering Chapter 1 (Feb 2018)
• This Time It’s Personal: An Experiment in Family Volunteering (Jan 2018)