Over the last couple of months I have been volunteering at Grace House, an assisted living home for the elderly. Over the course of my time at the Grace House in Silver Spring, Md I was able to take myself out of my usual school and basketball mindset and focus on the people in front of me. I met Mrs. Montgomery and many other elderly folk who just found comfort in the simplest of things. I was able to eat lunch with them, talk about their past such as family members and old jobs like working at the hospital as a nurse or even just conversing about sports and upcoming playoff games for college and NFL football. I decided to do my volunteer hours at Grace House because I wanted to make a difference in a community that is often neglected and forgotten about. Elderly people are perceived as fragile and incapable of much, but they have a keen understanding for life and a greater over knowledge that I can only hope to ever gain. That is why I decided the best place to do service was at Grace House. I as well love how the staff there treats all of the elderly people, they make them laugh and smile and do not treat them as though they are children, but instead give them the proper amount of help and allow them the independence they are deserving of, if capable. I helped serve dinner, breakfast, and lunch to the residents as well as did coloring, music, and bingo with them. Coloring was my favorite time because some couldn’t read the name of the colors, but they enjoyed the peacefulness that coloring brought as much as I did. Many color much better than me! They embraced me and were all very nice and always invite me to come back each time I leave, which is often when they are headed off to bed. Grace House is a place that I will definitely continue to serve once I am done with my service hours and that’s what I hoped to find in the community that I served, somewhere I can continue to make an impact. A lot of the time I get caught up in all the drama that is school, basketball, home life, and I forget to remember and embrace the small things. Mrs. Montgomery, Mr. Richard and so many of the residents and staff at Grace House taught me how to appreciate the simplest things in life, such as just being able to listen and enjoy the melody of the music, eating dinner surrounded by people that care and support you and being able to wake up every day.