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St. Andrew’s Terrace amazed by Breakfast of Champions turnout
Long-term care home’s volunteers thanked with flowers, food and photos
5/25/2016
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Michelle Strutzenberger
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St. Andrew’s Terrace residents thank the volunteers who enrich their lives.
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St. Andrew’s Terrace was amazed by the response to its decision to thank its volunteers in a whole new way this year.
While in past years the Cambridge long-term care home has hosted its volunteer appreciation events in the evening, this year it decided to offer a Saturday morning breakfast.
The home’s life enrichment team came up with the name Breakfast of Champions. “A champion is someone who is a champion of a cause,” says volunteer co-ordinator Debbie Forget. “Our volunteers come in on their own time and they support our residents; they’re dedicated to them.”
More than 90 people attended the breakfast, which is the highest number of attendees the home has seen at a volunteer appreciation event.
Among the highlights of the morning was the buffet spread of food, prepared by the life enrichment team. The spread featured a savoury egg bake, sweet egg bake, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, yogurt, cinnamon buns, tea, coffee, juice and a gluten-free dish.
“Everyone said the food was excellent,” Forget says.
Attendees also appreciated the volunteer trivia displayed with the fresh flowers set up on each table. Little cards were inscribed with messages about volunteering that the life enrichment team had gathered from residents.
As the volunteers walked into the facility that Saturday morning, they were also greeted by a display of photos featuring residents, staff and leadership team members holding up cards of thanks. Each card had a special message of thanks, such as “Thank you for coming to help me with bingo,” “Thank you for visiting me when I’m lonely,” and “You make me smile.”
“The highlights were all about everybody who is part of our partnership to help St. Andrew’s Terrace,” Forget says. “These partners, these people, make a big impact here; they make a big difference.”
The kinds of things volunteers do at St. Andrew’s Terrace are many and varied. There are those who visit one-on-one with residents – enjoying a cup of tea with them in the café, taking them outside for fresh air or playing a game.
There are also program volunteers who come in and help the life enrichment team set up for a program.
Other volunteers help at mealtimes, bringing residents who need assistance to the dining room, cuing those who need support in eating and serving tea and coffee, for example.
Palliative care volunteers will be present with someone who is in palliative care, if this is something the family wishes.
And these are just a few examples.
While St. Andrew’s Terrace is doing well with its numbers of volunteers, Forget is quick to point out that she does a lot to draw people in.
Inspiring and attracting people to share their gifts and time and energy as volunteers is a challenge for many organizations, she says.
“In this day and age, people have to work. I have a volunteer managers’ meeting that I go to quarterly and I hear that it’s a challenge everywhere. Everybody is always trying to find volunteers.”
Forget has found that family members and students needing to complete their mandatory 40 hours of volunteer time are often the ones she can most rely on.
Even so, she needs to be sure she is out there letting people know about the volunteer opportunities at St. Andrew’s Terrace.
For instance, she will talk to the high school counsellors and leave fliers about the facility, along with applications at the school. She advertises constantly on Volunteer Cambridge, which is a database for volunteers looking to do volunteer work. She attends volunteer fairs and recruits volunteers there.
“It takes a lot of time,” Forget says. “You have to be prepared to be out there and talking to people all the time.”
-More to Come
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