EMILY HSUEH
SHAWVILLE Feb. 10, 2021
The Pontiac Reception Centre (CAP) in Shawville is putting out a call to the community to build some frosty friends for the residents at the nursing home.
The CAP is hoping the community will come together to build some snowmen outside the windows of the building to put a smile on the residents’ face and to entertain them. Serena Lariviere, recreation technician at the home says anyone and everyone is welcome to come build one.
Since visitors and volunteers are not allowed to come into the centre, workers and residents have had to . . .
come up with other ways to keep entertained. Inspiration for their new idea occurred recently, when snowmen were created both inside and outside the building.
“Whenever you’re doing any type of activity with the residents, you want to do something that is familiar with them and so snowmen is something they used to do when they were children and they did it with their kids …” Lariviere said. “We actually brought snow inside and allowed them to build miniature snowmen, and that went so, so well. A couple of weeks ago, [a volunteer couple] came and built a snowman outside the dining room window and the residents just loved it.”
The staff also realized that with the pandemic, there isn’t much to do for the general public either so they hope with this, everyone can find something fun to do. Her post promoting it on Facebook has since amassed nearly 50 shares, with people posting photos of their own snowmen and promising to build them again for the CAP. Lariviere also said that a date is in the works for a daycare to drop by and add plenty of snowmen to the scenery.
Around the holidays, the CAP asked the community to send in Christmas cards for the residents since the pandemic would make it harder to celebrate Christmas. They received over 900 cards, and Lariviere hopes people will be just as excited to help with this new project.
“We thought we’d put a call out to the community; there’s not a lot to do right not with COVID and everybody seems to be looking for a way to get outside and be active, so we thought, ‘Let’s get the community involved.’”
While the weather has not been ideal for making snowmen recently, Lariviere hopes that when the snow becomes stickier that people will start to come out and liven up the CAP a little bit more.
“I think that the seniors are very well respected and I think that any time the community has a chance to help them or support them, they’re all in, they show up. So I have no doubt that people are going to show up.”
