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Impacting the elderly

Feeling down during these times? Well one kid in North Delta decided to change that and cheer up the elderly at the Delta View Care Centre.
Jayan Biring
Jayan Biring records a reading of a favourite picture book to entertain seniors at Delta View Care Centre.

Editor’s note: This is the seventh article in a student writing project from the students of Mary Messer’s class at Gray Elementary in North Delta. The stories reflect community projects that students have done to improve the lives of others throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The articles run once a week on the Optimist website.

Feeling down during these times? Well one kid in North Delta decided to change that and cheer up the elderly at the Delta View Care Centre.

Hi my name is Jayan, and to me, the elderly are important. I feel this way because they have been here longer than us and have been through more than us. I also feel this way because every time I see or even talk to my grandparents they get so happy! And that makes me happy! But during COVID they can no longer see their families as much and must be feeling down. So I decided to change that and do something nice for the elderly.

It took a lot of careful planning to get my project up and running, but in January, I finally got into action. For my project, I decided to record myself a few times, reading picture books and telling jokes with background music. I tried to pick the picture books based on the humour. I used an app called Imovie to put in the background music and sound effects to make my videos more entertaining. I encountered some problems along the way, but I got over them.

In February I finished my impact project, and was ready to send it to the Delta View Care Centre. I felt so good about myself. You know when you work really hard at something, and when it's finished you have this nice feeling inside? Well, that was what I was feeling then, and I’m still feeling it now.

I can just imagine the residents of the Delta View Care Centre sitting around a screen, watching my videos…with smiles on their faces.

Do you want to be a future community impactor? If you do want to impact your community, I have a bit of advice for you: if you come across some problems like I did, don’t give up, just keep working.