Dozens of community members made Valentine’s Day cards at Serena Hills Elementary in Chicago Heights on the morning of Jan. 16. The event was organized by Serena Hills Community Connections Committee to provide Valentines for senior citizens and other residents of assisted living facilities.
The Martin Luthor King’s Day event was promoted beforehand on the Serena Hills website and the Flossmoor website.
“Come make Valentine’s Day cards for residents of long-term care facilities and enjoy some hot chocolate and community,” the Flossmoor website said.
There were five tables filled with volunteers eating donuts, drinking hot chocolate and enthusiastically making Valentine’s Day cards. The volunteers included but were not limited to Serena Hills students, parents and faculty, members of the Top Teens of America community service organization and H-F High School students in the National Honor Society.
Organizers provided pieces of white, pink and red construction paper, cut into the size of greeting cards which volunteers folded in half when making the cards.
To decorate the cards, there were a variety of stickers. Some stickers were big enough to cover nearly the entire cover or half of the card’s interior. Other stickers were smaller and used as an added decoration complimenting the card’s handwritten words and/or drawn pictures.
Scissors, glue sticks, 10 colors of markers and 16 colors of crayons were also provided.
H-F student and NHS member Sofia Leal said she was receiving NHS hours by attending the event. To maintain membership, NHS requires students to have 15 out-of-school hours and 10 in-school hours of volunteer work, Leal said.
One of Leal’s cards said, “you are loved. You are important. You are amazing. Keep doing you.”
Leal said it was “really fun” making the cards. She said she made about five cards throughout the morning but “lost track” of the exact number.
“On a day like Valentine’s Day, the seniors will feel really good about just knowing that we’re thinking about them and having a connection to the community and the students at our school. I think it’ll make them feel real good inside,” said District English Language Learners coordinator Meagan Franko.
“It doesn’t take a lot to make someone feel special. So, that’s why we’re here helping the community bring love and light to the seniors,” said Tamara Lee, a member of Top Teens of America.
Serena Hills principal Beth Reich said this is the second year this event has happened. She said the first time was in January 2020 but intervening years were postponed because of the pandemic.
“We have three staff members who have people who are either in a nursing home or an assisted living facility. We’re going to let them drop them off,” Reich said, regarding what’s happening to the Valentine’s Day cards.
By the end of the morning, a total of around 150 or 200 Valentine’s Day cards were made.
“It’s a great turnout,” Reich said. “If you look around at all the tables, people are really putting their hearts into it. It’s really magnificent to see people’s artistic spirit come out.”