UMAS/MAFS Celebrate Thanksgiving 2019

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Traditionally, Thanksgiving was celebrated by the pilgrims, who migrated to America. It has been a celebration for the blessings, including the harvest for the year. Progressively, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in the United States to give thanks for everything. It is celebrated with family and friends every 4th Thursday of November. Friends and family get together for a feast, which traditionally includes a roast turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, etc. Thanksgiving is a national holiday in the United States.

In our Naperville ADS center, Seniors and Staff celebrated Thanksgiving with 80 seniors and 20 Staff members. ADS activity coordinator, Evangelina Contractor, along with the other staff members made a special paper cut-out Turkey. Each senior wrote their thanksgiving wishes neatly in a piece of paper and pinned it to a wing of the Turkey. This was quite a display on the wall which was much admired by all our senior participants and our visitors, namely the Consul General of India, Chicago, Mr. Sudhakar Dalela.
The program began with a prayer sung by our very own seniors thanking God for His blessings. Mr. Gurbachan Singh gave a speech about “Thanksgiving”. A lovely poem was read by Mr. Chandrakant Desai. Mrs. Sunita Parikh shared a few funny jokes. All the staff members sang a special thanksgiving song in front of all seniors, which made them feel happy and appreciated.

At UMAS, apart from celebrating all special events, we also encourage our senior participants to play many games which most importantly are a way to strengthen their sense of community—and fun! Playing games is more than just fun! In fact, they boast a host of benefits, from improved mood to sharpened memory, it encourages interaction with others and keeps their mind and body active.

Our Vernon Hills location celebrated Thanksgiving with the senior participants and staff, by having a family-like sit-down Thanksgiving lunch. Our seniors always enjoy the love and care our staff provide, and had prepared thank you notes, which they shared with everyone! An informative video presentation about the history behind celebrating Thanksgiving was shown. Later they played games like a word search relating to the Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving was similarly celebrated by our staff and seniors in all our 14 locations.