Community Service with Lakers
For my community service, I decided to do four days with Lakers in Bray in order to have a direct link to my community through voluntary work and also to work with intellectually disabled people. I couldn't wait to get started and I knew from the beginning of the first day that the week was going to be a memorable, fulfilling and rewarding one.
Lakers Social & Recreational Club is a community-based sports, social and recreation club for children and adults with an intellectual disability. The club provides a wide range of sporting and educational services to members across Leinster from its centre in Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Their mission Statements is as follows:
Lakers exists to serve our members on a basis of respect and inclusion, to work with them in enhancing their unique talents, to enable them to participate in sport, social activities, recreation and development, and to work alongside them in promoting their full participation in the wider community. We are dedicated to building teamwork, self-esteem and confidence, and to ensuring the maximum participation and involvement of the families of our members.
Day one - 
Day one (Tuesday 5th of April) with Lakers was definitely a learning curve for me and an eventful busy day. Amy was also volunteering so we both arrived at 9.30am and went through some guidelines with Anne, the main co-ordinator and we went through the schedule for the day. We learnt that most of the time there would be two activities going on so I would go to one and Amy would go to the other. The first activities of the day started at 10am and consisted of golf and drumming. I was asked to go with the golf group so Amy went to the drumming class. I immediately met three lovely women called Mary, Mandy and Ann who were going to be attending the golf class. They were just so happy, delighted to be going golfing and immediately started chatting to me about various things like the best place to go for coffee! Although they were impaired in some ways they were so comfortable in their own skin and definitely seemed to be loving life and loving chatting to me about their families and funnily enough their ages. The rule ‘it is rude to ask a women her age’ didn't seem to apply to these friendly ladies who told me all about their birthdays and current ages. The ladies told me that we travelled with Graham, another volunteer in the mini-bus to Charlesland golf course and collected other women on the way from other centres that help people with disabilities. Eventually after much chitter chatter, we helped the ladies into the Bray Lakers mini van (which Graham informed me was a secret party bus) along with their very professional golf bags and headed around Bray to collect some other enthusiastic golfers, with the music blasting in the ‘party bus’ the ladies cheered when they heard I would be staying for the rest of the week. That made my day and brought a smile to my face. Once we had collected the rest of the golfing ladies we made our way to the golf course where a group of very nice golf teachers took the women for a lesson where myself and Graham assisted. We left the technical stuff to the experts! The experts being the women from Lakers, who were might I add, absolutely fabulous at golf, hitting the balls really far and putting right into the holes. 
We first started the golf lesson with a warm up which just consisted of a little jogging and stretching, easy enough for the women to do but effective enough to get them rearing and ready for golf. After that, we helped the women take out their drivers and they started to hit the balls. I assisted Ann, who was driving the golf balls up to the clouds! After that we went to the putting green where the women had a competition to see who could put the ball into the hole first. Mary was crowned champion and informed me that she won all the time and was the best! I could see the pride shining through her eyes. We then headed back to the Lakers centre dropping off each woman to their destination. By then, it was 12.30am so Amy and I headed for lunch. We arrived back at 2pm and Amy went to the cooking class and I went to the Boche class, a modified game of bowling or marbles for disabled people. I was with different people and got to know lots of new people like Luke, Nigel, Nathan and Ciara who once got talking never stopped! There was great camaraderie between all the Lakers members while playing Boche and they begged me to give it a go. Lets just say my skills weren’t half as good as theirs were.
After two Boche classes, Amy and I joined back together for the final activity of the day, Teen club. For teen club, we went walking down the promenade and walked along the beach. One of the girls, Aoife, grabbed mine and Amy’s hands and I thought that was the sweetest thing as we walked along the beach. She also brought us flowers which was so kind. The other children, Ben, Cliodhina and Rickey were lovely too but we had to keep a close eye on them as they could sometimes run off.
My first day was amazing as I got to know some fantastic people and get really involved with my community and all of the members really made me smile throughout the day.
Day Two -
Day two with Lakers was even better then day one if that is possible! Another day full of smiling faces, vibrant atmospheres and fulfilling and fun activities. The first activity I did in the morning was music therapy something I thought would be right up my street. This was a very fun class with lots of laughter and music being made. The class consisted of myself, two leaders and a good few members. Their names were Hannah, Shane, Michael, Ciaran, Lukey, and Neill. We had such fun singing along to the guitar and singing hello to everyone in the group. Just to see the enjoyment the members were getting out of singing was just so rewarding and fulfilling. We then played a stimulation activity where each person had to bang the drums in a certain rhythm. At first everyone was a bit stuck and found it challenging but soon they were flying at it, banging the drums like there was no tomorrow! We then shook the maracas for a while which brought us to the end of the session where we danced before everyone had to be dropped back to their centres. We danced to dancing queen by ABBA and Hannah took my hand and we danced together but then Ciaran also wanted to hold my had so we all danced in a straight line while still holding hands! Thomas was in a wheelchair but that didn't stop him from dancing as he jiggled along in his chair moving his upper body and holding hands with one of the leaders. It was a great start to the day.
After lunch, myself and Amy joined together to help out at the cookery class which we’ve been told is very popular among the lakers community. We helped make a mince plait and jam tarts and everyone did such a good job with their little jobs they hardly needed any help. Andrew was sitting opposite me at the kitchen table where all the chopping is done and Pierce was sitting across from me and kept smiling at me which was so nice. We soon made the delicious cuisine and the lakers ate their produce while Amy and I were asked to help out at the Keep fit class where we ran around with some other members and did some star jumps and core exercises along to some upbeat music. The energy in the room was unreal and everyone worked their hardest. It was great to see some familiar faces in Marian and Janet who attended the Boche class yesterday and also to see some new faces like Mark and Siobhan who I had great talks with about which football team was the best. Mark is a Man United fanatic so we decided that it was the best team and he was very pleased.
Soon after the Keep Fit activity we were finished for the day and set off at 4pm. It was another brilliant day and I enjoyed it so much. I couldn’t wait for Thursday.
Day 3 -
Day 3 with Lakers certainly didn't disappoint and I even managed to meet more new faces and I was delighted when some familiar faces greeted me cheerfully and even remembered my name!
I immediately got stuck into an activity in the morning which was Art class, even though I wouldn't be too artistic I really enjoyed the class and helping everyone. Before the art class, Amy, Stephen (another volunteer) and myself took a trip in the mini van to pick up some of the members. We travelled to different rehabilitation centres located in Bray and it was great to see Hannah again from my music class. We brought about 7 members back to the centre and some went off to hip-hop and others came with me to do art. In art class I was helping a woman called Aoife who absolutely adored painting but needed some assistance cleaning her brushes and figuring out where exactly to paint in but her painting was nearly better then Van Gough’s and we were very proud to have finished the worksheet first. We were learning all about secondary and primary colours and how if you mix two primary colours together you get a secondary colour. Aoife knew exactly which colour was and would tell me which colour was a primary or secondary. It was so much fun watching everyone paint and just to see the joy everyone was getting out of the art class was brilliant. After Art class we headed back to the van to drop everyone home and then myself and Amy went for lunch. After lunch, we went on a walk with some ladies and men as part of the health and lifestyle activity. We just walked down the seafront and back and everyone really enjoyed it until it started to rain, luckily that didn't dampen spirits too much (no pun intended!). After the walk, we arrived back to the centre and Amy and I packed goodie bags for some of the members. We then participated in the junior art class where we helped a girl called Sophie to make a mosaic to hang on the wall. It was very funny as Sophie was smelling our hair and telling us that it smelled like rainbows! After a fun filled day we went home and once again I came home feeling happy and like I had done something good for my community. I realised that I love being around the members of Bray Lakers and I was dreading Friday being the last day.
Day 4 -
On Friday we seemed to have the last day blues as we set off into Lakers with heavy hearts, knowing that it would be the last day. Immediately our hearts were lifted when we saw all the Lakers people ready for another fun filled day. In the morning, myself and Amy set off to the different centres to gather the members who were going to attend the music class in lakers. Everyone was so exited to go to the music class and were willing the minibus to go faster so they could arrive early. As soon as we arrived into music class we realised that it was more like karaoke and dancing then anything else. Each member took their moment to shine and sang confidently into the mic, proud of their voice no matter what standard they were at. Suddenly, I found myself at the centre of attention with everyone shouting for me to sing a song so I ended up doing the karaoke singing Dancing in the Moonlight with everyone dancing around me, Lukey and Hannah holding both my hands and shouting in my ears! It was great fun altogether! After the karaoke session everyone was wrecked from all the singing and dancing as we dropped them back to their centres. After lunch, we joined in on a dance class where they were all preparing for a show they were going to do in the mermaid. We found ourselves dancing along to songs like ‘Shut up and Dance’ and ‘Dynamite’ and picking up the moves from everyone else. They were brilliant dancers I have to admit, so enthusiastic and energised. After dance class, we brought them all to Shoreline for swimming and then it was the end of our day. Everyone hugged us and told us they would miss us loads, it was very sweet. Anne, the main co-ordinator even thanked us with a box of malteasers and one of the music teachers told me I was one of the best TYs they had, very engaging with everyone and really good with people who have intellectual disabilities.
Being a part of lakers for the week has probably been one of the highlights not just of TY but of my life in general. Being among people different to me yet so similar was an amazing experience and I honestly can say I have made so many friends from it. People with intellectual disabilities are the most kindest, affectionate type of people I have ever met and I just loved being around them and getting involved. Lakers has given me the opportunity to see the lives people with disabilities lead and how any little thing can brighten up their day completely. This community service has given me the chance to do something that has a direct link to my community and it was very emotional saying good-bye to everyone. Luckily for myself and Amy, we have been asked to help out at the Summer Camp they hold during the summer so I will be back for more fun and games in Lakers and I am so looking forward to volunteering again and throughout fifth year. Lakers has taught me that even though someone can look or sound different they still can have things in common with you and become a great friend. Honestly, I am so happy and grateful to have been given a glimpse into the lives these unique, special and lovable people lead and I can’t wait to do more with them.
No comments:
Post a Comment