Residents at Regency Retirement Community will spend an evening with volunteers from the Honors College playing Bingo and eating a restaurant-style dinner with a variety of desserts. Valentine’s Day décor will cover the room, including a wall with props and decorations to take photos.
“I know that my grandma, we visited her over the break, and she was talking about how she gets kind of bored,” said Ally Mitchell, director of the event and a sophomore majoring in communicative disorders. “She has friends, but they do the same thing all the time. So this is kind of a way to shake it up and give them an option for a nice night without needing to worry about the money aspect of it.”
This is the first year for the Valentine’s Date Night, and Mitchell said she expects 50 residents at Sunday’s event. Regency will provide dinner for the group to accommodate for dietary needs, and 15 Honors College volunteers will provide the desserts, including pies, cookies, sugar-free options and more. She said the retirement home’s director, Lauren Perez, appreciates the additional help.
“A lot of people do events at Capstone Village,” Mitchell said. “But Regency doesn’t get quite as much college attention because Capstone Village is really close. Regency is also slightly less affluent so they just don’t have as many volunteers.”
Mary Lieb, president of the Honors College Assembly and a junior majoring in advertising and communications studies, said she is looking forward to the event and is excited to hear the residents’ stories. She said she hopes to make this an annual event.
“Of course we enjoy returning to places where we have previously done service because developing relationships is incredibly important in learning about where we live and what impact we can have, no matter how small,” Lieb said.
All of the residents at Regency will leave with handwritten Valentine’s cards. Kindle Williams, executive vice president of civic engagement for the Honors College Assembly and a junior majoring in chemical engineering and chemistry, said this event differs from usual Honors College events which focus on education and physical activity.
“This event should be great, though, to serve as a reminder that sometimes all you need to do in order to make the community a better place is give joy to someone else,” Williams said.
To see pictures from the event, follow The University of Alabama Honors College on Facebook or on Twitter @HonorsCollegeUA.
