Valentine’s Day Tea at English Meadow’s!

Today several volunteers and staff put together a fancy afternoon ‘Tea’ for the residents of English Meadow’s (also known as Elk’s Home).

My parents have been living in this assisted living facility for the last two years, and we have gotten to know many of the wonderful staff there as well as some of the other residents. While the ‘Tea’ had appeal mostly for the ladies, a few men attended too. Steve (DOS) and I took Mom to the Valentine’s Tea, and fortunately arrived early at 1:30pm, so we could get some photos of the room and refreshments before it filled up with people at the 2pm start time.

The tables were fancily decorated with flowers and valentines decorations, as well as elegant china.

Several refreshment tables were setup in the front of the Activities Room, and the volunteers and staff would serve each table ‘waiter-style’, so the residents could relax and enjoy the Valentine’s Tea.

Best and most fun of all, was the hat table! As the residents gathered for the 2pm Tea, one of the volunteer staff handed each person a hat, trying to match it with their clothing colors.

Below is my sister Jenni (left), and the Activities Director, Sharon (right) in front of the hat table.

There were so many attendees at the Tea, initially they ran out of hats! No problem though, Sharon went down the hall to the storage unit and found another dozen or so for everyone .

They even had some men’s hats which I wore as well!

That is until we ran out of men’s hats too, and I gave mine to this gentleman who was so appreciative!

Here are some photos of Mom and Edley. (Edley is Mom and Dad’s lunch and dinner table-mate and a great friend of the family, and pictured in the red hat on the right.)

Each resident was individually by a volunteer or English Meadows staff member, and offered a wide variety of teas to choose from, as well as the tea biscuits, cookies, and other treats.

There was even entertainment with a man playing the violin and a lady playing the piano. The Activities Director, Sharon, also led the residents in singing several hymns such as “Amazing Grace”,and “How Great Thou Art” which was beautiful and up-lifting.

The Tea was quite a success and DOS and I both agreed we would like to volunteer for more Activities events here and back home in the future. Here are some additional photos of the Valentine’s Day event.