Work With Retirement Homes

This report outlines the work that the group did at Westhaven Rest Home.

The women of State's Mates were also very devoted to helping older ladies and gentlemen. One-third of the annual projects that they were involved with focused on aiding the elderly. The organization's first foray into the realm of volunteerism involving the elderly occurred in the 1962-1963 academic year at the Wake County Retirement Home. This commitment involved weekly visits and special activities around the holidays. For instance, State's Mates hosted programs or gave residents gifts at Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, and Mother's Day. As a commerative token for the year, the ladies gave all of the patients in the home handkerchiefs.

In both the 1967-1968 and 1968-1969 academic years, State's Mates worked with the Westhaven Rest Home, located on the Raleigh-Durham Highway. The women visited residents of the home once a week, bringing along refreshments and entertainment (this was changed to once every two weeks in the second year because of budget constraints and “lack of cooperation”).  In 1967-1968, State's Mates sponsored Christmas and Valentine's parties for the folks residing at the home. Due to low interest the following year, the group decided to purchase a Bingo set for the Westhaven Rest Home rather than continuing with such extensive visits.

This image displays several State's Mates members, including two that are dressed as nurses.  This signifies the role of caretaker that the organization sought to embody through their service activities.

Scholarship regarding the impact of volunteer service typically draw the following conclusions: volunteers tie communities together in ways that other institutions are unable to do; volunteers fill voids that are neglected or overlooked by institutions; and they provide service that is greatly needed but too expensive for the community to afford.  The work that State's Mates performed through their annual projects adhere to all three of these notions. Specifically, the organization sought to meet the needs of the Wake County Retirement Home and the Westhaven Rest Home by providing companionship and programming for the residents, thus rendering services for the homes that it could not otherwise afford and bridging a gap between the elderly and the university.

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