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Enrich Your Life And The Lives of Others -- Volunteer At The Boston Home
Tired of the same routine? Would you like to make new friends?
As a volunteer, you can enrich your life and the lives of people
who need your help. The Boston Home residents look forward to meeting you.
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Art Celebrates Life
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The Boston Home, at the corner of Dorchester Avenue and Gallivan Boulevard,
is a long-term care facility for adults with physical disabilities, primarily
multiple sclerosis and related neurological diseases. It is committed to
developing opportunities in which volunteers can really get involved. No
matter what your schedule and interests-gardening, computers, arts and crafts,
you can make a difference. So, if you're tired of the same old routine,
add a little variety to your life and volunteer.
"The Crafts Group" (see below) is but one volunteer activity at The Boston Home.
Volunteers also escort residents on field trips, assist at special events,
garden, lead discussion groups, give lectures, and participate in the Pet
Visitation Program.
For more information or to propose other volunteer ideas,
please contact
Sally Gorman, Volunteer Services, at
(617) 326-4299, or via e-mail at
sgorman@thebostonhome.org.
The Creative Crafts Group
Art imitates life, they say. But a group of Milton and Dorchester volunteers would say that art celebrates life. Most every Thursday for the past 30 years, these volunteers have put aside their routines and headed for a tree-dotted campus to bring art-and life-to adults disabled by multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases.
The Creative Crafts Group, as the volunteers call themselves,
has been quietly making a difference at The Boston Home, a unique
long-term-care facility tucked behind the intersection of Dorchester
Avenue and Gallivan Boulevard in Dorchester.
Inside this elegant building, the Crafts Group helps halting hands, some shaking with tremors, bring all manner of materials to life. Beads are transformed into necklaces and earrings; T-shirts are emblazoned with leaves; and cigar boxes, adorned with vivid images, become treasure boxes. Even 84 wheelchairs-one for each resident-assume personalities, thanks to colorful, quirky nametags.
The Boston Home's residents act as art directors, spinning creative visions; the volunteers guide their movements and often execute their wishes. As several appreciative residents wrote in a poem to the Crafts Group, "Thank you for being our hands."
All the while, as holiday cards are crafted and painted flowerpots spring to life, friendships blossom. "We build up a wonderful flow of conversation; it's very therapeutic," says volunteer Barbara Feather of Milton, whose mother once lived at the facility. "The
residents have become our friends and family."
Elizabeth Musgrave of Milton, a 29-year volunteer and former occupational therapist, adds, "The Boston Home is different from traditional nursing homes; the adults here are younger and stay longer." Which means the friendships forged are that much stronger.
Testimony to this creative collaboration is the story-high mobile hanging over the facility's lobby, a three-month labor of love. The Boston Home's architect admiringly calls it "jewelry for the building." Other creations are displayed in a lobby case, kept by residents, or given to their friends and family. All work is profession-quality, a point of pride among the artisans.
The volunteers are quick to point out that their rewards are just as great.
For more information or to propose other volunteer ideas,
please contact
Sally Gorman, Volunteer Services, at
(617) 326-4299, or via e-mail at
sgorman@thebostonhome.org.
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