Throughout Stillwater, there are many students who enjoy helping others and there are many ways that students are able to give back to the community. Whether it is volunteering at Feed my Starving Children, the Humane Society, or Boutwells Landing, the community will benefit from the help.

 Boutwells Landing is a caring center for seniors in need. It is made up of many different apartments and wings throughout the building for many different levels of care for individuals to get the appropriate help they need. Boutwells always welcomes people to join them in the care for the older residents. They have many volunteering opportunities for students to act upon.

Students have different motivation for doing the volunteer work. Junior Casidee Adolphson explained, “My grandma lives at Boutwells and my grandpa did too before he passed away. He always encouraged us to take a part in the community. Also, he would take us to the movie theater ,where I volunteer, so it has nice memories attached to it.”

Boutwells has different volunteering opportunities for people to choose from depending on how comfortable they are with each job. Each job deals with different aspects of care or entertainment for the residents.

Adolphson explained, “I like volunteering there because without volunteers, the movie theater couldn’t run, so it’s knowing the fact that you are giving the residents an entertaining experience that keeps me going.”

The Boutwells movie theater is a place for the residents to go and relax. It allows them to be able to have entertainment in their old age without going too far from their comfort of the home. The volunteers there have the opportunity to keep the movie theater running smooth for the entertainment of the residents.

Adolphson said, “At the movie theater I make the popcorn and put it into bags. Then I serve beverages to the residents that come and watch the film then I will play the movie. Afterwards, I clean up the theater.”

Some other opportunities for volunteering they have at Boutwells would be visiting and talking to the residents, therapy pet visits, crafts, reading and dining room help.

According to the Boutwells website, “These volunteers complete a variety of tasks for all of us. The residents that we have been called to serve are so important and deserve the very best. Volunteers help to supplement staff service – to do the little “extras” and to spend valuable time with the residents.”

People can volunteer as long as and as often as they want. It is about the residents at Boutwell that should be in the best hands of people who care enough to take time out of their day to spend with a resident. The people there are really appreciative of the volunteers.

Adolphson explained, “They are very respectful and nice. Some are very social and energetic and some come and are more quiet and are there simply to watch the movie.”

While some people visit the humane society to help the animals, others visit Boutwells to care for and entertain the residents and some people may even do Feed my Starving Children to help the hungry children in other countries. It does not matter where the volunteering is, it is a lot of help to the community and will be appreciated by a lot of people.

People tend to have different reasons of why they volunteer, where they volunteer or what they do to volunteer. Volunteering is something that people do simply because they enjoy it. Volunteering is good for society as a whole.