“The Manor identified this as a critical need, so we wasted no time in helping provide a new, cozy and beautiful space for the residents there,” he said.
Ray said the project took about two months and cost nearly $10,000.
“Most of the team have full-time jobs, so we worked on the renovation in our free time. After work, before work, during our lunch hour. Some are retired and worked on the project when they were able. Sometimes it was long nights here, but it was a beautiful thing,” he said.
Items in the renovated room include a refrigerator, books and book cases, skee ball machine, 70-inch smart TV, a Wii and games, couch and love seat, lounge chairs, tables, a kitchen island and board games. Some of the furniture was given through collaborations with Fellowship Christian Church (Springhill), Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church and Casa del Sabor.
“It was a pretty cool project that required a lot of hands and feet and time,” Ray said. “We feel strongly about the residents here at Springfield Manor are worth every cent and second.”
About four months ago when the group was formed, Ray said they started by working with Springfield Manor, which identified the need for a new activity room.
“We worked on raising the needed funds. We asked the community to be a part of that and the task force itself to raise money. We put a budget together, we put a plan together and we got started,” Ray said. “We had a very strict deadline. We wanted to be done by Oct. 1 and we wanted to do a little celebration and grand opening for the residents.”
Part of the reason the group helped renovate the activity room was because during the pandemic the residents had to stay in their rooms, Ray said.
“For about a year or so they were in their rooms and it became their safe place. Now it’s hard for them to come out of their room because they were so conditioned to stay in their room. This activity room and it being a warm, cozy place with things to do is hopefully going to draw them out of the room and get back to the socialization piece of their lives.”
Ray said he wants to send the message to the community that nursing home residents are important.
“They’re a part of our community just like anyone else and we’re going to continue to send that message that they matter,” he said. “That’s what the task force is about. We want to dramatically improve the quality of life and we identified five ways to do that. One of those ways is improving living space, so we’re helping accomplish that through renovating this activity room.”
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