The smile of an elderly person, so glad to see that you didn't forget them, the soft calling of"yoohhhhhh ... little girl" and the laughter of someone who hasn't laughed all day are some of the reasons I find community service rewarding. I have been volunteering at the Wesford Nursing Home for a year and a half. Every week for a few hours I visit some of my elderly friends. With some I talk about current events and how the world has changed during even my life. I play trivia with the smartest people that I know and wonder if I will remember that much information when I am older. I have an on-going discussion with one of the residents as to what you call a girl who delivers the mail. (After all, you can't call them a "male-woman." I love her sense of humor!) Some of them want to hear everything that I do when I'rn not at the nursing home. Others tell me stories of their grandchildren who don't have time to visit.

It is sad to see such wonderful people sitting by themselves all day with no one to talk to. I have never seen a visitor with some of them or even a letter or card sent to them. I cannot understand why the families of these elderly people find the need to put them in a nursing home and never come back.

I feel as though it is my job to make their lives a little brighter. I know that I make their day by just coming in to say hi. If I've made one person laugh at the end of the day, then I've done something important. fl