Hearts and Crafts

On Saturday OYFP volunteers visited one of our partners the Italian Home for Children (IHC) and did an arts and crafts day with some of their children.

First of all I want to thank everyone who woke up and braved the cold (okay so it was cold for me) weather. For those who are unfamiliar with IHC it houses emotionally disturbed children. From what I saw, these children have a great place they can call home. Every care taker, and every social worker of the IHC demonstrated patience and a lot of care for these children.

You can tell by the smiles on our faces that everyone had a great time! We volunteered with roughly 20 children ranging in age from 10-13, according to our host, Alicia from the IHC.

Unfortunately we can't show you any pictures of the children because we here at OYFP protect these children's right to privacy during perhaps a difficult time in their childhood.

The kids were enjoyable to be around and I was quite surprised with some of the clever ideas the children came up with for Valentine's cards. I saw a lot of Valentine cards for their parents, letting them know about much they love them. I think homemade gifts mean a lot more than the type you can get at the store, so I know these parents are lucky to get such gifts this Valentine's Day.

I think my favorite Valentine's Day Card was the card that had a bar code on the backside of the card. If I am being honest with you, I don't think I ever came up with something as clever as this kid did! Later I saw that the same boy also make an envelope for the card and placed a sticker that sealed the envelope together. We also made decorations for these children’s doors in the dorm room.

It was sad to leave but it made my day knowing that we probably brightened their day as well. One of the kids even hugged the volunteer he worked with before she left! More pictures of the volunteers and the crafts we made will be updated on our flickr sight by the end of this week so stay tuned!

If you would like to learn more about volunteer opportunities for IHC please contact Alicia Chick at 617.524.3116, or email her at AliciaChick@italianhome.org.

Now on to learn how to dance Salsa and eat some great food at Au Tua Nua!