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On average, Michigan has nearly 13,000 children in foster care. Residents at Samaritas Senior Living of Grand Rapids want to make a difference in the lives of the children in the area.

Ashley Boroff is Recreational Therapy Director at the Woods, which it our Memory Care Community. She came up with the idea of residents making Christmas gifts for foster children. Our residents in each level of care would use their talents to create hand-made, thoughtful gifts.

Ashley came up with the idea because, "she wanted a project that would incorporate all of the different residents at Samaritas." She was looking specifically for a project for the men at the Woods. Samaritas Senior Living uses the Montessori approach in the Memory Care program which incorporates all of the senses. It also uses residents abilities to the fullest to be as independent as possible.

A few guys from the Terraces, our Independent Living Community, made wooden cars, trucks and buses in their woodshop. They then were brought over to the Woods where residents sanded and painted the toys.

The Montessori approach also seeks to find the residents roles. This project allows the residents to have a role in the community. Instead of just having the role of resident, we're giving them the role of doing something good for the community.

Not only did the men create the cars for little boys, but the women from the Terraces formed a new quilting group where they made small quilts to accompany stuffed animals for little girls.

"I think it's important for the children to have things that maybe normally they wouldn’t have," Resident Maude Norman says. "We know that they were made and given in love."