Burrell students deliver board games, fun to Belair nursing home residents
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Burrell School District Interact Club students donated $300 worth of board games and books for residents of the Belair Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center.
Students delivered 10 board games and other games including Yahtzee, Scrabble, Monopoly, chess and checkers; a card shuffler and puzzles galore.
Burrell’s Interact Club students are dedicated to public service. Their work includes helping out at Knead Café in New Kensington where low-income residents can eat for free.
But the students wanted to do something more and something different.
“During this pandemic, I felt as if the elderly people were being left out. So I thought we should do something to liven up their daily routine since they wouldn’t be able to see visitors,” said Kyrie Key, a Burrell senior and Interact Club secretary.
What better way to entertain the Lower Burrell nursing home’s residents than with games, she said.
The nursing home was surprised by the gift, said Linda Richardson, Belair’s activities director. Before the pandemic, the facility was encouraging community involvement at the home, she said.
“It’s a very nice thing that they did,” Richardson said. “The games are a help. They give residents more to do, as well as their families, during visits.”
The district is proud to see its students contributing to the community.
“To see our high school students think beyond themselves is such an awesome thing,” said Darcy Holtzman, Burrell’s literature teacher and Interact Club sponsor.
Holtzman said she loves sponsoring the club. It’s the students who make it happen by creating and organizing events and fundraising campaigns.
The students raised the money for the games by selling candy bars, Key said.
Holtzman is pleased with the students’ efforts.
“With every new event we have,” she said, “I become more and more impressed with how caring and thoughtful the kids are to the people in their community.”