Volunteer Program

Volunteers are always welcome at Hillcrest Home in Geneseo. Volunteering is not only good for the individual who shares their time and love, but it is also good for the residents of our Home who enjoy meeting new people. A visit will show that members of the community still care.

Most residents enjoy visitors who like to chat or sometimes participate in a friendly game of cards or checkers. Volunteers with special skills in gardening, crafts, letter writing, and so on, can share their experiences and talents.

Activity Ideas

Suggestions for groups or individuals who would like to volunteer include:

  • Assist with outdoor picnics/events
  • Bingo Parties
  • Birthday Parties
  • Ceramic Classes
  • Country Readings
  • Crossword Puzzles
  • Educational Programs
  • Games-(Ring toss, Horse Shoes)
  • Musical Programs
  • Nail Care
  • Pet Therapy
  • Planting/caring for flowers
  • Reminiscing
  • Set Hair
  • Sing-A-Longs
  • Slide Shows
  • Trivial Pursuit
  • Wheelchair rides
  • Word Search
  • Worship Services

Rehearse Before Seniors

When your committee, church, school, 4-H group, or Scout troop is planning a public performance, consider doing a rehearsal at Hillcrest Home, or invite our residents to see the dress rehearsal. Your group will get much-needed practice, and the seniors will appreciate the show!

For additional information or to request a tour of our facility, please contact Casey Harris, Social Service/Activity Director, or a staff member working in the Activity Department at 309-944-2147.

101 Things to Do While Visiting Your Older Adult

  1. Talk about what you both have been up to since your last visit together
  2. Bring photos of family and friends from days gone by or some recent snapshots
  3. Create a photo album, framed photograph collection, or poster to hang up
  4. Make a special scrapbook celebrating your older adult's lifetime
  5. Write or tape your older adult's memoirs or autobiography - give copies to the family
  6. Share your own favorite stories and memories
  7. Bring vacation photos, souvenirs, maps, and stones of your travels.
  8. Read aloud from newspapers and magazines to help your older adult stay in touch
  9. Look at magazines that have a lot of large colorful pictures together
  10. Subscribe to your older adult's hometown newspaper and bring it along
  11. Read religious or inspirational articles, magazines, or books
  12. Read letters from family and friends
  13. Bring messages from family and friends recorded on cassette tape to listen to
  14. Bring a videotaped greeting from family and friends
  15. Help your older adult write or tape letters or send greeting cards out to people
  16. Find a pen pal and help your older adult correspond with this new friend
  17. Create a poster or mobile from pictures cut from magazines
  18. Bring items related to the season or upcoming holiday to enjoy and talk about
  19. Have an indoor picnic with your older adult's favorite picnic food
  20. Enjoy a cup of a favorite beverage that you've brought along in your thermos
  21. Bring the musical instrument you play for your older adult's own private concert
  22. Teach your older adult to play an instrument or learn together
  23. Singhumwhistle together
  24. Play "name that tune" with records, tapes, or music on the radio
  25. Listen to music together
  26. Play charades
  27. Wind yarn together for a knitting project one of you is working on
  28. Work on a craft project together
  29. Try your hand at a new artistic pastime (like drawing, painting, or sculpture) together
  30. Make simple gifts for your older adult's grandchildren
  31. Bring along your sewing basket button box toolkit to organize together
  32. Build a bird feeder or house to hang outside your older adult's window
  33. Bring along a bird book and see how many different types of birds drop by
  34. Bring out the mending to do while you visit - your older adult's or your own
  35. Brush, comb, or style the older adult's hair
  36. Give a manicure---put on make-up-use perfume or aftershave to feel pampered
  37. Ask for help in planning your summer garden and look through the seed catalog
  38. Plant and take care of an indoor, windowsill garden together
  39. Create a terrarium to enjoy with very little care needed
  40. Play word, guessing, and trivia games together to keep your older adult's mind alert
  41. Play card, table, and board games together-lifelong favorites and new ones
  42. Keeping a running tally of the scores in your own tournament
  43. Do crossword puzzles together, or on your own to see who can finish first
  44. Do jigsaw puzzles - one per visit, or a 1000-piece challenge that will take some time
  45. Watch television together and talk about the programs you've seen
  46. Keep up on soap operas that your older adult watches and you miss while at work
  47. Rent a videotape to bring along an old favorite movie or musical
  48. Go shopping from catalogs for clothes, household, or frivolous necessities
  49. Go window shopping in fancy catalogs filled with things you'd never think to buy
  50. Bring along a favorite recipe book to explore together or to plan a meal from
  51. Next visit, bring a treat made from the recipe your older adult said sounded good
  52. Do some baking---or no-bake cooking together
  53. Give your older adult a gentle massage with lotion to keep skin soft
  54. Bring things to stimulate the sense of smell-spices, perfume
  55. Bring different textured fabrics to touch-silk, wool, denim, corduroy, and velvet
  56. Set up a slide projector or handheld viewer for a travelogue
  57. Bring the home movies to watch together (don't forget the popcorn)
  58. Have children or grandchildren bring or send school artwork or papers
  59. Bring a pet to visit
  60. Bring a pet that the older adult can adopt-perhaps some fish or a bird
  61. Start a collection or hobby that you both enjoy doing
  62. Find others who share the same hobby or interest and invite them along on a visit
  63. Do exercise together to keep in shape
  64. Read a chapter of a novel or several poems each time you visit
  65. Write poetry or a short story together and it off to be published
  66. Look at and listen to an old-fashioned music box
  67. Make a "joy box" by filling a decorated shoebox with fun and favorite items
  68. Watch the seasons change out the window together
  69. Take photos of the changing season window scenes or keep a window diary
  70. Keep a mutual journal of the interesting discussions you have during your visits
  71. Make a potpourri together and hang it up to keep the room sweet-smelling
  72. Tell jokes to one another - bring along a joke book if either or you need help
  73. Start a friendly, news-filled chain letter among your older adult's friends
  74. Bring along an old friend of your older adult for a special reunion
  75. Take a photo of your older adult to send to family and friends and ask for theirs in return
  76. Take a walk together outside when weather permits - sit on the porch or patio
  77. Bring along your children or grandchildren and enjoy watching them play
  78. Have someone bring their baby to hold and "coo" over
  79. Make scarves, mittens, toys, or the like to give to a children's hospital
  80. Celebrate the holidays together with special parties for two
  81. Keep track of favorite sports teams or place a friendly wager on the next game
  82. Learn a new word each time you visit together
  83. Challenge your older adult in a two-person spelling bee
  84. Play along with the television game shows or host your own versions
  85. Dance or tap your toes to your older adult's favorite dance music
  86. Bring along a travel book or brochure to dream about your fantasy vacation
  87. Use some small rhythm instruments or kazoos to make your own music
  88. Read the farmer's almanac and keep track of which predictions come true this year
  89. Play tic-tac-toe or hangman
  90. Ask your older adult to share changing memories of the community over the years
  91. Make a list of all your older adult's favorites - foods, movie stars, songs, teachers
  92. Decide what you both would do if you had one million dollars
  93. Design and make your own Christmas or other holiday cards to send
  94. Toss cards into a hat, pitch pennies, shoot marbles, play jacks, etc.
  95. Sit and hold your older adult's hand and lend a good listening ear
  96. Try your hand at drawing each other's portraits
  97. Blindfold your older adult in order to guess the flavors of tangy, fruit candies
  98. Recite nursery rhymes and children's songs from both your generation's childhoods
  99. Work on a latch hook rug for your older adult's room as you sit and talk
  100. Give your older adult a hug each time you arrive and each time you say goodbye
  101. Provide your own idea!