Volunteer Program

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!