Thomas Edison High School GlamourGals Chapter

why it's important:

I am the Chapter President of the Thomas Edison High School GlamourGals chapter. When I see that my time spent with a woman at the nursing home makes her feel appreciated, and the nail polish I have put on her hand makes her feel beautiful, it is truly a heartwarming and rewarding experience. As a volunteer with GlamourGals for all four years of high school, I can wholeheartedly say that I have learned so much about compassion, leadership, confidence, and volunteerism through providing the elderly with makeovers. I have developed a true, deeply rooted passion for the fight against elder loneliness in my community, and even more, the youth led movement against it. Caring and loving the senior citizens of my community’s senior homes is especially important to me, because it is simply unacceptable for the happiness of the elderly to be neglected. At a fragile and dependent stage in their lives, many nursing home residents don’t have frequent visitors or ways to seek new sources of happiness and beauty. It’s a problem that isn’t commonly addressed in the media or on the top of the list for what the average citizen is concerned about on a day to day basis. Yet at the same time, it’s a problem that CAN be solved with tools as simplistic as compassion and love. When I visit our local nursing home and witness that most residents spend their entire days isolated and alone, staring at blank walls without the trace of a smile, it simply breaks my heart. This, the very fact that the elderly are people too but are often treated like mere objects, is what truly fuels my passion for this problem. The problem of the growing lack of youth leadership in my community is also one that I hold near and dear to my heart. In an urban high school located in a low income community, I’ve witnessed so many of my classmates drop out of school, get pregnant during the earlier years of high school, fail to make an effort to apply to college, or simply live with solid and vital values in their lives. Addressing this problem is very important to me because I’ve seen that not enough youth are willing to plan ahead with regards to their futures, and reach out to others for support in forming and reaching their goals. It is possible for this problem to be solved with support and guidance, and an involvement with enrichment activities around schools and communities.

the plan of action:

The Thomas Edison High School GlamourGals chapter volunteers at our local senior home, the Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, where we provide the elderly with complementary beauty makeovers and manicures. Each week, we come in groups of ten volunteers with makeup supplies. During these 100% youth organized visits, each volunteer pairs up with a senior citizen for a makeover experience. GlamourGals tackles both elder loneliness and youth empowerment through launching and executing makeovers at out senior home. To begin with, our chapter is led by a student leadership team that actively schedules events at the senior homes, develops special holiday events for the elderly (we had an Indian fashion show for Diwali and made and distributed cards for holidays), and maintains a chapter of more than one hundred high school volunteers. Each volunteer plays a vital role in our fight against elder loneliness and develops key leadership skills while helping the residents to look and feel beautiful during a makeover! Our plan is to continue youth led makeovers at senior homes, while taking the program to the next level. We believe that this can be achieved through more frequent makeovers, more special events for the elderly to take part in, and more leadership training opportunities for our volunteers.

how you can get involved:

The GlamourGals movement is one that uses the combined efforts of many to raise awareness and achieve a common set of goals. Others can help by (1) joining a GlamourGals chapter to volunteer their time and love at a local nursing home, (2) donating funds to help support an existing chapter of volunteers in registering with GG to receive make-up supplies, or (3) simply spreading the word about elder loneliness and why it’s a problem that needs to be addressed.

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