Senior Citizens bingo night
Key Club and National Honors Society students spend time with elders in the community.
As the senior citizens walked into the Springdale senior center, they brought with them an air of competition. Little did the Key Club and National Honor Society volunteers know just how competitive the elderly could be.
“She better quit jerking me around,” senior citizen Ruby Link said.
Ruby Link has been coming to the senior center since she moved here from Ohio over five years ago. Link is one of the prime examples of how seriously the senior citizens take bingo, and they even go as far to trash talk the caller. Link even joked about carrying prizes home. Many of the prizes were bought by the two clubs in order to bring a bit of excitement to the game. The prizes included gift cards and meal tickets.
“I don’t wanna carry anything home anyway,” Link said.
Key Club and NHS volunteered at the senior center in order to help and make friends with the seniors. The bingo night gives the chance for the seniors to connect with the younger generation and have a good time.
“We love the students coming in and giving back to their community it is a true blessing to the senior center,” director of the center Lori Proud said.
Proud always enjoys when the students come and volunteer, and the turnout for wednesday night was very appreciated.
“It was a fun way to bond with them,” senior Georgia Milhem said.
Members of NHS and Key Club even went and bought prizes for the seniors to win to add to the bingo experience.
“I was assigned to a table, and was given the opportunity to meet some kind folks,” sophomore Key Club and NHS member Angela Menjivar said.
The students and the elderly got along really well, and some of the students were even able to make new friends.
“At the end of the day everyone had their table of senior citizens they were with, and they absolutely loved them and had a lot of fun,” Milhem said.
Everyone ultimately had a good time, and the Har-Ber students were able to get in some volunteer hours as well.
“I think it’s great to say that I will most definitely go back to the senior center and see everyone again,” Menjivar said.
The senior citizens even helped to lighten the mood with their humor and the way they slyly passed their bingo cards around. Link ended up getting a bingo after making jokes about not getting up to claim a prize.
“It’s been so long I don’t know how to walk,” Link said.