by: Katie Bolin
April 21, 2009
Elders boxed, bowled, and played baseball inside the Codman Apartments as they christened their new Nintendo Wii last March. The Red Sox and Microsoft sponsored City Year Teams of high school students helped the residents to get it set up and helped the residents adjust to the remotes. It didn’t take long before the room roared with cheers. Those passing by couldn’t help but join the group of approximately twenty residents and ten volunteers.
City Year is a non-profit organization that enlists young people, known as corps members, to spend 10 months serving the community in which they live. Many times, corps members engage youth in physical service, which is what prompted corps member, Andrew Baccari, to contact the Codman Supportive Housing site. The City Year team started off the day by helping to clean up the grounds: raking leaves and picking up pieces of trash. This effort was the start of a larger project to build a communal vegetable and flower garden for the residents. Thanks to the students’ help, the residents plan to break ground later this month.
The Codman Supportive Housing site is run in conjunction with the Boston Housing Authority, Boston Senior Home Care, and the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) of Boston. It provides support to approximately 100 residents from many diverse backgrounds. The program also has special features such as: an on-site Services Coordinator, monthly wellness seminars provided by the VNA of Boston, on-going exercise and yoga classes, an on-site computer lab, and a congregate meal program. The popular Nintendo Wii gaming sessions will soon be added to the calendar of events as well. Russell Lan, Boston Senior Home Care Manager, was on site during the volunteer activity and stated “everyone had a really great time. The Wii was a big hit and we look forward to the boxing match between Ms. Thompson and Ms. Jackson.”