A Moment of Joy: Trinity Students Enrich Lives at Brookdale Senior Living During Big Help Day
It happened on Saturday morning about 11:10 a.m. The setting was the Brookdale Senior Living Center, and about 50 senior residents were gathered. Standing in front of the residents were 27 Trinity students. Matthew Burt, a Trinity parent to Margo and Prescott, started playing the piano, and the students sang Ode to Joy.
You could see it at a precise moment in the song. Looking forward and focused on the children, the resident seniors appeared to be reliving something. Perhaps their childhood. Perhaps their children. Perhaps when they last heard the song. Some were deep in thought. Some were smiling with joy. Some had that all-knowing grin. But it was undeniable - the sights and sounds of the students brought them somewhere. And it was extraordinary, at least for me, to view that moment. And it's why we do Big Help Day.
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For Big Help Day, we often get caught up, appropriately, on "what" we're doing. And it's essential to know what we're doing. First, we enjoyed a pizza lunch and then gathered the books for the students at Achungo School in Kenya and Ravenswood School in Menlo Park. We put together care kits for soldiers in Operation Care and Comfort. We prepare meals for families in transition who are living at LifeMoves in Palo Alto. We put together Kinder Kits for Ravenswood Elementary School.
Nevertheless, we can't lose focus on why we have Big Help Day. From where I sit and why we conceived Big Help Day five years ago, it was to bring joy and comfort to others and for Trinity students to learn the value of giving over time.
It only takes a second to see why we do Big Help. We have to look for that moment, which can be indelible. For me, it was at Brookdale Senior Living Center. That 30-minute recital, from the 27 students singing songs to individual performances with a violin, piano, cello, and guitar, and the look on the seniors' faces, was all it took.
Thank you to Kim Thacker (Service Learning Coordinator and Religious Studies Teacher), Melissa Tronquet, Salina Sung, Martha Andrade, Andreia Stark, Maria Kalinina, and Piper Griffin for creating a program truly a gift to others and ourselves.
