The next morning the group split up; three of us went to the Turner Fifty Forward site, while the rest went to the Bordeaux site. As I drove to the Bordeaux site I knew I would have a completely different experience from the day before because of the small town feel of the surroundings. When we arrived, we were a little confused because the building was so small, especially in contrast to the Knowles building from the day before. We were quickly greeted by Jean Wilson, who was the program director there. She was easily the nicest person I met on the entire trip. She just emitted positive energy. She quickly learned all of our names and showed us the Fifty Forward magazine and video. Jean explained to us how everything worked there. Everything had a certain routine; there was a certain table where they played cards and everyone had their own seat. One thing I learned was that elderly people always have their own routine and never break from it. If there is a break from the routine, they will start to be confused and grumpy. We made sure not to sit in anyone else’s seats as the members started to arrive. The members were mostly elderly black individuals who were all full of life, even in their aging years. We talked and played with them and instantly started to feel a connection with the members. Margaret was the most interesting member; she was so energetic and active. We played Wii Bowling with them, which we learned is a great way for the elderly to get up and be more active. I was impressed by how good they were at the game and especially of Margaret’s overhand technique. I also learned that the elderly love to share stories as they used us as a channel to pour their life experiences out. They were all so friendly and optimistic; they were constantly cracking jokes and laughing. I had such an amazing experience at the Bordeaux site, which would continue until the next day.
One thing that deeply affected me at the Bordeaux site was when Dorothy, the elderly site manager there, explained to us the rules about the food. The food was government sponsored and catered by Piccadilly but they had strict rules. The elderly members that were on the meal plan were always served first and absolutely no food could be taken home. Dorothy said that it breaks her heart when she has to dump all the extra food out but it was necessary. One mess up and the government could cut all funding to the site. She explained that if the elderly takes the food home it could be a health hazard. For example, a member could forget about the food and leave it out for a week and then eat it and get food poisoning. It was hard to hear all of this, but it was just one of those things that they just had to do to remain open.
In the afternoon, all of us re-joined and went back to the Knowles site. There, Deborah had us clean the windows in all of the offices. We abided and made quick work of it. The office personnel was grateful for our help so that was enough to motivate us but we still had our doubts. Why were we stuck cleaning windows on the nicest and biggest building while there were other buildings such as the one in Bordeaux which was much smaller and not as nice? We did not feel as if we were being as productive as we could have been. It was just such a stark contrast from the personal interaction we had with the elderly members at the Bordeaux site. After we cleaned the windows, we were given the task of organizing yarn. Again, we felt as if we could have had more interaction with the elderly members there but we all knew it was still for a good cause. Fifty Forward had an event called “The Big Stitch” coming up. At this event, they sell yarn and other fabrics to help raise money for their organization. They had boxes and boxes of donated fabrics that we attempted to sort out and organize. Once our time was up we quickly went home to rest from the long day.
At night we watched an Extreme Home Makeover episode that was recently filmed in Nashville. They built a new Lighthouse preschool because the former one, which was the building we were staying at, was too damaged by the flood. It was a very interesting to see how much damage the flood actually had. The flood happened back in May of 2010 but there was still so much damage left that needed to be repaired. Larry, who was staying in the building with us, had been helping out with flood relief.
-Yasser Hassan
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