Social & Community Engagement
DonateSocial & Community Engagement Events
Your Support Matters Here
After moving into long-term care, it’s important for residents to maintain their connection to the larger community by participating in activities, tours and events outside of the home. At St. Pat’s, we strive to provide residents with a variety of outings that tap into residents’ individual interests, sense of adventure, or family traditions.
Throughout the year, large and small groups will: go to sugar bush to taste maple syrup straight from the tap, get dressed up and attend the Foundation’s annual fundraising gala, visit a local art gallery, enjoy ballpark franks and cheer on the Ottawa Champions baseball team, enjoy Dairy Queen on a hot summer day, go for High Tea at Billings Estate, go for a tour of the fall leaves, and so much more.
These activities connect residents with each other, reduce social isolation and create a sense of belonging and community. Quite simply, they are part and parcel of healthy ageing. Donations to St. Patrick’s Home Foundation provide for bus and taxi transportation, and subsidize the cost to participate in these special events.
Babies Who Volunteer
Jack is just 6 months old, yet he is already an active volunteer! This morning, Jack and his mother Megan, made a special visit to St. Patrick’s Home. They are two of the 1,100 volunteers that visit with seniors in 36 long-term care centres across Ottawa and in Kingston. Babies Who Volunteer Ottawa was founded by Jessica Turner, after she noticed the powerful impact her infant daughter had on residents whenever she visited a family friend who was living in long-term care. “It was like magic,” she says. And we can certainly vouch for that. As soon as the Babies Who Volunteer arrive at St. Pat’s, it’s like the sun has come out. Residents smile and talk to the babies, watch and attend to the babies, and relish the chance to touch or hold them.” This was the second visit by Babies Who Volunteer, and we look forward to raising the necessary funds to make this an ongoing activity. For more information, go to http://babieswhovolunteer.com.