The Alyssa Alvin Foundation for Hope (AAFH) hosted a music night at RMH near Loyola Hospital in Maywood, IL on Tuesday, July 16, 2019. We brought percussion instruments as well as a ukulele for the young patients and their family members to enjoy.
We arrived around dinner time and met other volunteers who had arrived to prepare the meal for the families. One of the other pleasures that we don’t often mention is the opportunity to meet like-minded people who find value and gratification in donating their time on behalf of others. We exchanged information with two different volunteer groups this evening and discussed the possibility of working together in the future.
Getting back to the music night, though, we also were able to get re-acquainted with a young family that we had met at the same house for a previous Art Night hosted by AAFH. This family travels all the way from Recife, Brazil to get treatment for their toddler daughter that they can’t receive in their home country. The little girl and her young sister had a great time banging away on the drums and other instruments that we brought for them.
We also met a second family who had two school age children that showed interest in and promise with the ukulele. They also experimented with several of the instruments there and it was great to see their lack of inhibition when trying something new.
Every event we get to participate in is a reminder to us that as we give, we also get. We give a little bit of our time but we get to meet so many wonderful people – volunteers, staff, patients, family members and of course the children – and we also get tremendous satisfaction in seeing the smiles as a result of our time together.
Alyssa’s presence and her passion for life is felt at each one of our events.
