Holidays Highlight the Importance of Giving Back for Volunteers from Asbury Methodist Village

GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Traditionally holiday time is a chance to reflect on the importance of giving back to the community. This year, Santa is sure to stop at Asbury Methodist Village (AMV) retirement community, where a whopping 1,487 volunteers surely made his “nice list” by logging an eye-popping 238,487 volunteer hours. These volunteers are made up of residents, staff and others from the community, such as school children.

“My job is very satisfying because it allows me to help others to fulfill their desires to give back, and I can’t think of a better job than helping people”

“We have volunteer opportunities for every interest,” explains Elaine Kielman, director of therapeutic activities and volunteers at AMV. “Our residents tell us that volunteering is important to them and they’ll do it until they can’t anymore. We have opportunities for them to give back at every stage of life that they may be in.”

Volunteer opportunities are vast and include things like helping at holiday events, preparing care packages for the local women’s shelter, cataloguing books in the resident library, transporting rehabilitation patients and many others.

Bobbye Kudzma, 87, and her friend Dot Howe, 90, put their knitting and crochet skills to work for Care Wear making caps for premature babies at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital. According to Mrs. Kudzma, it is hard to get hats small enough for these tiny newborns. Their contributions help these at-risk babies retain body heat so they can devote their energy toward growing and gaining weight. Last month their group at AMV made 101 hats for the preemies and low-birth- weight babies. Since 1996, when the group was started at AMV, Mrs. Kudzma says they have donated more than 5,570 caps. The ladies say that they have made hats small enough to fit a walnut, and larger hats to fit the size of an orange.

“My daughter found out about Care Wear and came to our knitting group here at AMV and introduced us to it. I crochet and others knit; those who don’t do either, donate money for yarn.”

“I get a lot of satisfaction out of being part of this group and knowing that we’re helping these tiny babies,” explains Mrs. Howe. “It’s important to keep busy and active, and giving back by doing something you love makes it even better.”

Even the residents in the healthcare center volunteer at AMV. Ms. Kielman says that residents there gather once a week and make 150 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the men at a local homeless shelter. “This has been a wonderful experience for them because this is a way that, despite their limited mobility, they can still give back to others. This giving back is important to them and finding a project that enables them to continue to be involved is very satisfying for them and for us.”

In addition to their residents, AMV provides volunteer opportunities for students in Montgomery County where they can earn service hours toward graduation. The community also provides opportunities for special needs students. These special needs students are from programs at Quince Orchard and Magruder high schools, along with the county’s Target Community and Educational Services program. These kids come with coaches who work with them along side AMV staff in dining services and are taught skills they can use to gain employment. “It’s great to hear about the satisfaction the kids get from a job well done,” says Ms. Kielman.

“My job is very satisfying because it allows me to help others to fulfill their desires to give back, and I can’t think of a better job than helping people,” she says.

Asbury Methodist Village is a CARF-CCAC and EAGLE-accredited continuing care retirement community that is part of Asbury Communities, Inc., which provides management and support services for a system of continuing care retirement communities for older adults. Asbury Communities is ranked by the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) and Ziegler Capital Markets Group’s AZ 100 as the 12th largest not-for-profit multi-site senior living organization in the country.