What I got out of Hearts and Hands in High School

By: Ian Medicielo, high schooler and Chapter President in Newark California

Hello, my name is Ian Matgomery Meicielo and I recently started a community chapter with Hearts and Hands in Newark, California. We have been actively visiting senior homes and bringing services to senior residents to ensure that they are valued and seen. Prior to Hearts and Hands Newark, I had already been volunteering at my local senior home for nearly four months. This inspired me to start a local chapter and spread the Hearts and Hands mission.

I decided to share my experience with you all in this blog post, from the very start to how my chapter is doing now! 

What was your experience like starting a chapter?

In the beginning, I felt that starting this new Hearts and Hands chapter would be an obstacle for me because I didn’t think I was a leader. However, here I’ll share how I went from being scared to start to confidently leading a successful Hearts and Hands club.

I grew up in a care home facility that also functions as a family household. Growing up with these residents, I understand the obstacles they face everyday living with conditions like dementia and autism. So I was driven by a strong passion to help the elderly and individuals with intellectual disabilities. My goal was to make a positive impact on the seniors in my local senior home, Fremont Village.

Providing support for senior citizens and the mentally challenged has strengthened my patience, emotional resilience, and problem-solving. Overall, being a part of Hearts and Hands and being a chapter founder for Hearts and Hands chapter in Newark, California taught me that every person has a unique story. Through small conversations during event workshops, you start to realize that these small acts of kindness can make someone feel seen, loved, and valued. I was nervous to lead my own club because of what other students might think, but now, it has transformed me into a more confident person than I ever imagined I would become.

What was an obstacle you learned how to overcome?

Even before registering my chapter with Hearts and Hands, I already faced some volunteering obstacles. The three main factors that made me hesitant were being judged by peers, struggling with managing school work while leading this club and the possibility that my Hearts and Hands chapter would be unsuccessful.

However, these mental blocks did not conquer me. 

I took everything one step at a time. I first recruited my closest friends as my club officers and volunteers. Their support and positive feedback about my ideas for this club encouraged me more and more to push and do countless research on what I need to be a reliable and good model as a president. 

Then, I cold emailed countless care homes. Regardless of my nervousness, I still clicked that “send” button, and I’m so glad I did.

When we successfully finished our first activity at the senior home, all of the negative thoughts that first came into my mind started to quickly disappear. Hearts and Hands has taught me a valuable lesson that fear is a common occurrence in leadership, but taking action shows that these thoughts are nothing but sentences and you can make a memorable impact in your community.

Tell us about your success with raising and hosting your first senior home activity! How were you able to go in with confidence and lead an activity with a room full of elderly residents with dementia? What prep came with this? How did you feel afterward?

One of the proudest memories and achievements I have made in my chapter was launching my first and successful volunteer activity for the senior residents at the Fremont Village care home. 

Before the event started, we spent 25 minutes

setting up. We filled the paint in the art pallet and set up tables and chairs. Even after being fully prepared for the four activities, we were all still worried about how the participants would respond and whether the workshop would be a success. 

Our first workshop in Fremont Village went AMAZING and exceeded our expectations! Our concerns quickly faded after the senior home Activity Assistant gave us an introduction of all the participants and we found that the seniors were welcoming and were happy to be there.I never thought that I would shed a tear at the end of that day. We received warm greetings and full embrace by hospitable staff and wholesome seniors. During the day, the seniors were cooperative with us and had fun during the activities! Playing Bingo was one of the most exciting activities they played, especially with the hygienic kits we gave out as a prize for the winner. The senior home’s Activity Assistant and the Activity Director joined the workshop, and their support was really helpful.

In the beginning, my chapter co-leader and I invested our own money with the help of our parents for the supplies of our four activities that we would introduce in the care home. It was quite expensive ( total cost of 60 dollars) . Going forward, we wanted to give the residents a memorable experience while maintaining a budget, so we started to raise money. 

We created a GoFundMe page and made a post about it in Hearts and Hands Newark, our Instagram chapter account. With the generous help of friends and family, we  raised 350 dollars in just one day! We are now planning on spending the money on supplies for future activities.

Over time, we started gaining confidence through getting to know the seniors. Even with dementia, they followed the arts and crafts step by step and made wonderful pieces!

At the end, we had so much fun that we lost track of time, and our workshop went over two hours. After making strong connections with the residents, I look forward to hosting more events for the seniors at Fremont Village. 

We walked away feeling proud about our contributions to this care home and joyous that we made the seniors’ day a little bit brighter.