Durant FFA students visited Featherstone Assisted Living of Durant on Feb. 13 to wish the residents a happy Valentine’s Day and show acts of kindness.
Bailee Varner, FFA secretary, said they were giving the residents gift bags that contain nice, little cute gifts. FFA students also took gift bags to King’s Daughters & Sons Nursing Home.
The bags contained socks, ChapStick, an assortment of candies, and other items.
This was the second year for FFA to do this for Valentine’s Day, and everyone liked it so much last year, FFA just had to do it again, according to Varner.
“We’re doing this to lift the spirits of some of the elders in our community and kind of get Durant FFA a little more involved in our commu- nity, so they always know that if they need anything, an FFA member can sure help,” Varner said.
“We’re always thinking of some ways to get more involved in our community. There is bound for something to come up. I’m sure we might think of something around Easter to do and it will really just depend on the availability of our chapter too because we do get very busy this time of year.”
Lydia Bullard is the president of the Durant FFA chapter, and she said visiting Featherstone is one of her joys.
“I spent the first probably five or six years of my life with my nana and grandparents coming to visit their parents here at nursing homes like this,” Bullard said. “Matter of fact, my great-grandmother resided at King’s Daughters and Sons until she passed away from us. I’ve gotten to go do things like paint nails, just (provide) cookies and things like that for the nursing home residents.
“You really do see that we can really nurture them and love them in that way. As Christians, we’re called to and as just people, we’re called to love one another and to be generous and hospitable. So, this is just one of the ways that we were able to do that this year.”
The visit coincided with First United Bank’s United Acts of Kindness Day.
“When we were planning this, it’s been about a month in planning, but we really didn’t know that this was United Acts of Kindness,” Bullard said. “It just kind of was a happy coincidence that it’s the same week as United Acts of Kindness.”
Durant FFA representative Bethany Randolph said it is an honor to take part in activities such as this.
“Not just an activity but to serve our elders of the community and to just give back to them because I know how it must be in the nursing homes sometimes,” Randolph said. “I’m just really honored to give back to them and be a part of this and it just really warms my heart to see them happy because I’m just a kind of person to like to give back to people that one day served me in some way. So, doing this is really an honor and it really warms my heart to do this and see them happy.”
