First In-Person Makeover After 2 Years!!

At her last makeover visit, Sanjana S., UC San Diego chapter’s Vice President, had the wonderful experience meeting a very thoughtful and caring senior. She shared a story about rescuing an abandoned puppy and that same puppy remained by the residents' side throughout her manicure.

Equipped with a set of fresh manicure supplies, myself, new and returning volunteers and fellow President were able to step into a senior home for our first in-person makeover since the pandemic shutdown. It was an exciting experience to be collaborating with a new senior home, and I could tell the feelings were mutual as they advertised our volunteer event via their newsletter for their residents.

I did two manicures that day, the first being a shade of blush pink and the other a nude color. In between paint strokes, it was so enlightening to hear the stories the women told me. One story that touched my heart was of a resident who found an abandoned puppy with a shoelace around its neck in an exterior area of the resident home, looking lost. The resident then decided to take the puppy as her own, grooming it and taking it to the vet, to nurture it back to health. The puppy was at the makeover by the residents' side, active, healthy and clean, playing with our volunteers and the other residents too. It was a touching moment to hear of a resident being so giving and thoughtful, and inspiring as their kind spirit was able to save the puppies' life.

While I was waiting to give another makeover, I listened in on another residents' conversation with a fellow volunteer about virtual reality. The resident told us of how she was inspired to try it because of her son's interest and involvement in it. She showed us screenshots of her avatar and the various locations she has virtually visited with other virtual friends. It was so cool to hear of the passions and interests of the residents; virtual reality is something that I did not previously know too much about but it was nice to learn something new from a resident!

Overall, this makeover was a success and I was glad to see new faces, both those the residents and our volunteers. I have a pretty good feeling that I'll be seeing them very soon as our next makeover with this senior home is already scheduled. Also, we have a GBM planned for next week on conversing with seniors and the do's and don'ts of manicures.