Article by Ann Berlam
Thirteen GNL volunteers representing 11 different classes joined together January 13 to assist in the weekly luncheon at the Naples Senior Center for 190 senior citizens from Collier County. The Senior Center is a place for seniors to socialize, receive services, participate in programs and receive a hot lunch. The GNL volunteers arrived early to learn about the center and to learn about the weekly luncheon. Our members welcomed the seniors when they arrived at the center, helped them get their name badges, and served coffee and tea while waiting for the meal to be served. When the buffet line opened, our GNL members served the food, got plates for those seniors who needed assistance, and refilled coffee and tea. After the 190 seniors were served, the volunteers even had time to enjoy the luncheon. But our work was not done. We moved on to cleaning plates so we could serve dessert to everyone. During dessert some word games were distributed to the seniors to work at their tables to find the answers to word completion games, fill in the blanks and combine parts of words into one word. The GNL volunteers walked around the luncheon tables to help with the answers, but we did have a cheat sheet which we needed! Our final task was to clean the tables and help get the room ready for a travel talk for those seniors who stayed after lunch. It was a rewarding day for the 13 of us and we were inspired by the 99 year old who was as spry and lively as we would aspire to be.
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Participants: Ann Berlam (VI), Kathryn Carmichael (XVII), Ron Kaplan (XIV), Arline Shapiro (XIX), Ralph Webster (XII), Jinny Johnson (VII), Gene Gardner (VI), Rick Ermler (XVI), Lydia Galton (X), Prentiss Higgins (XVIII), Maryellen Parker (IX), Louise Friedlander (XV), Rick Jennewine (XVII)