Davitt College

Davitt College, Bettering the Lives of the Elderly

The students of Davitt College will next week begin a voluntary work placement of two hours per week as part of a Young Social Innovators project. During this placement, they plan to bring fun, energy and communication into the lives of some elderly neighbours residing in The Sacred Heart Nursing Home, through a wide range of activities and services.
YSI is the largest citizenship and social awareness programme in Ireland with more than six thousand young people from every county in Ireland taking part each year in hundreds of projects and social enterprises. All are youth-lead, team based and action focused, and get young people involved in activities which help them improve the lives of others in their communities. The TY students of Davitt College believe that by participating in YSI it will create a space where they can make a real difference in the quality of life of some people in their local community.
Some of their proposed activities will include traditional music and dance night, games night, movie night, bingo and card night and reminiscence group nights. They will set up a library service for the residents and will collect, deliver and return books. TY students living locally have also volunteered their time to assist and accompany the chair bound residents to mass on Sunday Mornings. Each student will pair off with one resident where they will create and put together a life book or biography of the person’s life. This information will be gathered through reminiscing on the past, photos and general conversation and will be presented in book format to each member on completion.
The Sacred Heart residents will be invited along for nights of fun and excitement outside of the nursing home including the Davitt College musical and the forthcoming fashion show. The students will also organise for the school choir to perform a Christmas carol service in the Sacred Heart Home for all the residents.