By Patrick Cooley
HERMITAGE — Marlene Snyder of Sharon lightly knocked on the door of Joyce Onestak’s apartment on Friday at the John XXIII retirement home in Hermitage on Friday. When she got a response, she came into the room with her two granddaughters, Morgan, who is 8, and Sidney, who is 7, and a box of floral arrangements and stuffed animals.
Snyder gave Onestak a stuffed Rudolph, and Onestak thanked her.
“It was just what I needed,” she said.
Morgan and Sidney sang, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” said good-bye and moved on to the next room.
Visiting the nursing home is something Mrs. Snyder and her granddaughters have been doing on the day after Thanksgiving for the last four years. Morgan and Sidney make floral arrangements and collect stuffed animals to give to the residents as Christmas gifts. They also sing a short holiday song to each of them.
The girls said a favorite song among residents in the past has been “I Come to the Garden Alone.”
“They remember singing it when they were young,” Mrs. Snyder said.
Almost everyone they visited showed their appreciation in some way.
“God bless you and thank you,” Ellen Galicia said as the girls left her apartment.
“We do this until we run out,” Mrs. Snyder explained.
Some of the residents sang with the girls, one even raised his hands and waved them about as if he was directing a choir.
They talked with each one for a few minutes before moving on. Mrs. Snyder complimented John Cicen on a picture of him and his late wife hanging above his television.
“You were a handsome couple,” she said.
“Well, she was,” Cicen said with a laugh.
The girls gave Robert Ferrick a stuffed bear which Mrs. Snyder put on his windowsill.
“He’s going to watch you and make sure you don’t get into any trouble,” she said.
Almost every door they knocked on got a response.
“We’ve learned that you have to come before lunch,” Mrs. Snyder said. “Because if you come any later than that, everyone is asleep.”
She said they originally started visiting because her mother was living at John XXIII and they wanted to do something for the residents. It evolved from there because she found it was a way to get her granddaughters involved in the community.
“I figure, if you start young, and learn young to give back, then you’ll grow up that way,” Mrs. Snyder said. “Grandma is trying to instill that in them.”
