Potluck, elephant gift exchange and ugly sweater contest to follow in Loftin.
By Jon Hernandez
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
CAB will present A Caroling We Will Go 4-8 p.m. Dec. 16 at St. Francis Nursing Home, 630 W. Woodlawn Ave.
The event includes visiting and singing at a nursing home, a potluck dinner, ugly sweater contest and white elephant gift exchange.
The event takes place at the end of the semester every fall.
“It’s planned at the end of the semester,” Joseph Liedecke, coordinator of student success, said Nov. 26. “It’s just how we plan it.”
Students will meet between 3-3:30 p.m. at the office of student life in Room 151 of Loftin Student Center to practice a few songs before walking to the nursing home.
Students who want to carpool need to meet in the craft room in Loftin by 3:30 p.m.
“It is all about the holiday cheer,” Carrie Hernandez, senior specialist of student success, said Nov. 13.
“It is important to give back because, you never know, we may be there ourselves,” she said. “It’s just giving back and spreading holiday cheer.”
Students are encouraged to wear festive holiday attire such as ugly sweaters and Santa hats.
Twenty to 25 people usually attend the event.
“We don’t want it to get too big because of it being too crowded,” Hernandez said.
The students will sing while the residents will be having dinner in two dining rooms. No singing experience is required.
“You do not have to know how to sing,” Hernandez said. “It’s not about if you were in the choir. You just go out there and have a great time.”
The caroling will end between 5-5:15 p.m., she said.
Students are encouraged to walk around and be social to the residents after the caroling.
Hernandez said St. Francis Nursing Home is like family.
“I visit them sometimes during the week on my lunch break,” Liedecke said Nov. 13.
One of the residents from the nursing home was Liedecke’s 92-year-old second grade teacher.
“I invited her over to the house on Sunday for dinner, and she came over,” Liedecke said.
Hernandez said she has gone with him to visit her at the home.
Students will head back to this campus after the caroling for a potluck in the game room upstairs in Loftin.
Hernandez said tamales will be provided, and students can sign up to bring dishes.
“They can bring whatever,” she said. “We always have plenty of food.”
An ugly Christmas sweater contest and a white elephant gift exchange will be included.
Hernandez said a Kindle Fire will be awarded to the winner of the ugly sweater contest.
She said this is a fun event and a tradition student life will continue.
For more information, contact Hernandez at 210-486-0128.