Volunteering for Nursing Homes

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sonoftherosary

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Hello 🙂 Please help. I would like to start volunteering in Nursing Homes - by just spending time talking to the people there. I can play the piano, and most of all, I would like to spend time talking to the elderly patients there who are often left alone. I would love to speak to them about Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church, but I am free to talk to them about any other topic. Would any of you know where I can start? Where do I go to start volunteering? Is there a website or organization that I should go to? Where do I start?
 
I would start by seeing if your parish has a program for this, or if they can direct you to someone in your area who might run such a program.
I know at one nursing home my mother was at, the local Catholic church would send a sister and a lay minister over to talk to/ pray with any Catholics who were in that nursing home.
My friend’s mother also volunteers as a non-religious nursing home visitor.

If you can’t find any program run by the Catholics, you might try calling the nursing home itself and ask if there is a program for nursing home volunteer visitors and they might be able to refer you.

Just one caution, please be careful about wanting to talk about the Catholic Church to anyone who is not a Catholic. In general, if you’re going to be a nursing home visitor, you need to respect people’s religious preferences. If they want to pray, or talk about Jesus or Catholicism, that’s fine, but if they don’t want to, then leave the subject alone. They’re sort of a “captive audience” so it’s not really the place to evangelize.
 
Good morning, I do volunteer work at a Nursing Home not far from me. What I did was contact the Nursing facility itself and they directed me to the Director of Activities, who said they would love to have me come in. It is very rewarding, there are low functioning people as well as high functioning. You are correct that in saying there are those who are left alone.They are grateful for those who spend time with them… Contact a Nursing home near you. or do it through the church. Listen to what Bear said for she is so correct in her answer. God bless and keep you. …
 
@sonoftherosary , I wish you well .

I worked in a nursing home for ten years .

You will need to check with the home , and the residents and their families to confirm whether you are able to speak to them about Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church.
 
If you want to spread The Word, maybe you could start a Bible study for anybody who is interested in attending.
I worked with a CNA who used to come in on her off hours (with the facility permission, of course) and lead the residents in prayer and Bible study.
 
wow that is amazing!! 🙂 when it comes to leading a bible study, I worry that I won’t know what to say.
 
wow!!! You’re a lay dominican?? Did you know that Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was also a lay dominican? please tell me you know about his life!
 
Yes Rob! thank you for letting me know. Please offer up three Hail Marys for me 🙂
 
Thank you anna for talking to me! 🙂 please offer up three hail marys for me.
 
He was not only a Lay Dominican, but also a Vincentian. There are a ton of links on Vincentian websites:

vinformation.org

Search Results - VinFormation

vinformation.org vinformation.org

The first link under my signature is what used to be my main apostolate of promoting the cloisters. That apostolate has since been absorbed by the second link, the new congregation I’m founding. The third link under my name is to our online lay Dominican group.
 
This is a beautiful offer; particularly during Lent.

Many residents in these places receive no visitors.

I would suggest sharing your gift of music, that would appeal to all residents. If someone asks you why you volunteer, you can share your Catholic Faith in an organic way.

The residents tend to love hearing music, and possibly singing along.

The Activities Director would be thrilled to receive a phone call from you.

God bless,
Deacon Christopher
 
Dear Deacon Christopher, thank you for your reply, won’t you please offer up three hail marys for me… will you also offer up mass for me and my family too, please pray for my salvation. 🙂 I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
 
wait… WHAT??? I have never heard that Pier Giorgio Frassati was a Vincentian… he is so amazing… when I look at what he did with his life, I realize that I am doing so little… I wish my life was more like his life… sometimes, I feel quite miserable…
 
He was not only a Dominican Tertiary (proper term for his time), but he also participated in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (hence making him a Vincentian), and two other organizations. And he fulfilled the requirements of all four!
 
Wow … Blessed Pier Giorgio was actually involved in a huge number of different Catholic organizations… he is so amazing. Interestingly, he was not very strong academically - he failed two grades and had to be held back for one or two years, and his grades were very bad. Wow! One of his main crosses in life was academics and studying. His parents were disappointed in him because of his grades, and he desperately wanted his degree in engineering, but he died a few weeks before completing the requirements for his engineering degree. Have you heard of Immaculée Ilibagiza? She grew up in a small African village, and she and her classmates desperately wanted to finish schooling and get their degrees, and they prayed, and the Blessed Virgin Mary promised them a sign in the sky that would be a sign that the school girls would get their degree. You know, we might not think that God cares about our worries (our jobs, our careers, our degrees, our grades) - but whatever makes us sad, also makes God sad too because He loves us. Jesus, through the incarnation shared in our humanity, but that also means that He shares in our sufferings. Jesus suffers with us. Listen to Hebrews 4:15-16, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
 
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