Riverside Dance- Community Service

Through poms, I've been very fortunate to have been able to participate in so many community service actives. Specifically, the Riverside Valentines Day Dance. Every year, we host a dance for 40 or so residents from the Riverside foundation in Lincolnshire. The Riverside foundation is a home that provides residential support and developmental training services to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

This year, since I am a senior, I had more responsibilities at the dance than I did in previous years. I had to get there an hour early, at 6, to set up the tables, ice cream and soda bar, and decorate the facility. We hosted the dance this year in the wood commons. I also had to help the residents get from the drop off location at the point to the wood commons. I was nervous because I tend to be awkward around those that are different than me, and I was unsure how well I was going to be able to communicate with them. I wanted them to like me, so I went with the approach to be as nice as possible. After all of the residents got to the wood commons, we had a dance party. The residents had a blast jamming to music and dancing with us. It was so cool to see how much fun they had from just dancing around in a room to music. It made me have the same appreciation for the small things like that. After a long, tiring hour and a half of non-stop dancing, it was time for ice cream. I was in charge of walking around with the Hershey, caramel, and strawberry syrups and asking each of the residents what they wanted and how much. Some of the residents disabilities make it difficult for them to understand you, so I had to try multiple approaches in order to communicate with them. Interacting with the residents throughout the dance made me realize how much of a different outlook on the world I have than a lot of them. While I live in a world where everyone around me is locked into their phone, little to none of the residents own phones, and I realized how that effects their interpersonal interaction. Though I was nervous before the dance, it made me realize to take advantage of the little things in life because not everyone is able to enjoy them the way you and I do. Overall, the riverside dance made me realize how valuable life really is, and taught me lessons I will never forget.