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General News: McQuade Students Learn the Art of Gift-Giving
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| The boys sold key rings to raise money |
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| Edwin, Josh and Randy with the gifts they will hand out |
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| A Dodgers cap |
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| Spanish music CDs |
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| and a gift certificate bring a smile |
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| Another wish to fill |
December 13, 2007
In the holiday season, gift-giving is a ritual that can provide riches that extend beyond the material realm. That’s what a small group of teenage boys from McQuade Children’s Services discovered this week when they visited the Elant nursing home in Newburgh to spread some cheer.
The boys arrived with presents that they had worked hard to purchase with fundraising campaigns at McQuade. Since last summer the boys have worked with the Twilight Wish Foundation, which helps fulfill simple requests of senior citizens with meager resources. They chose the Elant residents because they had been visiting the seniors there since last spring, playing checkers or just chatting with folks.
To get started, the boys designed fundraising projects to earn money to buy presents for the senior citizens. One of the students, Edwin, already had business experience from his creation of King Edwin’s Ice Cream Stand last summer. In September, Jones Farm helped the Twilight Wish project, donating 125 donuts that the students sold to their classmates and teachers. Most recently, the teens sold keychains.
Katherine Keating,, who works with the McQuade students, says that the projects teach the students how to run a business and to be responsible with money. It also teaches them to help others. To date they have raised just over $1,000.
“The kids are giving back,” Judy Williams, McQuade’s public relations director, said. “Their interaction is caring and shows patience. They hate to miss a visit and the people are always happy to see them.”
On Tuesday, a half-dozen residents of Elant gathered in the cafeteria to receive the gifts that the McQuade boys had purchased. A gift certificate for a haircut in a salon and money to buy lunch went to James Edward. His friend, Holly, will get her nails done and have lunch, too. Another resident, Maria, received two Cds of Spanish music and James Hayes got a new LA Dodgers cap. Large-print bibles and a CD boom box finished off the list of gifts.
Heidi Williams, who works for Elant, says that many of the 190 residents don’t have family nearby and the inter-generational contact benefits them. As the group prepared to leave, Williams spoke with one of the McQuade students who became sad when he visited an elderly gentleman in his room. She wanted to let him know that everyone has a range of feelings and just as he was touched by the seniors at the home, the residents were touched by these boys who practiced the art of giving today.
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