news-record.com

Nearly 75 Stokesdale Elementary School students and family members gathered at Countryside Manor Nursing Home on May 18 with ambitious goals for giving the grounds a facelift.

Families spent the afternoon working side by side to clean and beautify two main courtyard areas at the retirement center.

The project included weeding, spreading pine needles, planting flowers and vegetables, removing debris, filling bird feeders, pruning, cleaning and watering.

Organized by Stokesdale’s Kids Care Club, the project was intended to make the nursing home’s outdoor areas more welcoming and appealing for the residents.

“It has brought beauty to the facility and has made the courtyards a pleasant and peaceful place for the residents,” said Jessica Price, activity director at Countryside Manor. “What was once a lifeless area is now a sanctuary for the men and women who live here.”

The courtyards are a popular spot for friends and family to visit with residents when the weather is nice. They’re also a setting for many of the home’s enrichment activities.

This intergenerational project also allowed the elementary school students and their families to interact with nursing home residents in a meaningful way. After completing their work, students shared a snack and conversation with the residents.

As part of its ongoing relationship with Countryside Manor, Stokesdale’s Kids Care Club plans to help with maintenance and continued improvement of these outdoor areas through the summer and upcoming school year.

The nursing home residents say they look forward to enjoying the plants and flowers this summer, as well as picking and eating the vegetables that were planted.

The mission of the Kids Care Club is to empower kids to make a better world through hands-on service projects that benefit the community.

Operating for the first time this year at Stokesdale Elementary School through the PTA, the club has already honored veterans at Countryside Manor, made bread for Greensboro Urban Ministry’s Feast of Caring, made blankets for chronically ill children through Project Linus and collected toiletries and socks for Brenner Children’s Hospital.

The project was a community effort, with donations from area businesses, including AB Seed, Pine Needles Operating Co., New Garden Nursery, Summerfield Feed, Carolina Homeworks, Old Time Pottery, Southern States, Wind Chime Nursery, W&R Greenhouses, J&J Greenhouses, Tractor Supply Co., The Garden Outlet and Stokesdale Food Lion.

For information on Kids Care, call Laura Kunkel at 298-3185.

— Laura Kunkel, Stokesdale Elementary School Kids Care Club