Saturday Nov. 21 MSA volunteered at the Ronald Mcdonald house, and helped clean,this past saturday the club went to the Juniper Village for memory care. Muslim Student Association is yet again out to help the community.

This time, the club members did not volunteer to clean but to spend time with residents of the Juniper Village.

“It was really nice taking care of the elderly and I believe that with age comes wisdom, the reason behind helping is so I can learn because they have lived and experienced a lot,  they can spread knowledge, they know how life is like.” senior Leon Wan said.

Juniper Village consists of programs for retirement & assisted living, Alzheimer’s memory care, and skilled nursing, according to www.junipercommunities.com. Also Juniper is the first to be recognized by the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America as an AFA Excellence in Care Giving Community. Besides that Juniper Village was the first to be awarded, it is also the only one.

“Looking back at it, it  makes sense because of how music was a big part of their program,” Wan said, “It helps short term memory and they used a unique way to help people out.”

This a great way of getting connected to people and learning about different environments.“I guess when I started volunteering at first I was scared and wasn’t a super social person, the idea of meeting a new person can form a connection from me to someone else that can connect their thinking,” Wan said, “I don’t think about ‘I haven’t met you’ I think ‘wow I want to think past the introduction process’ and interact with all the people.”

“I just think of human as a human, especially we often treat strangers like animals, they, just like us have success and emotion. It helps me settle down because they have issues too and might be nervous to talk too,” Wan said.