SACRED HEART OF JESUS SCHOOL HOLDS ANNUAL GRANDPARENTS DAY CELEBRATION ä Page 5G
ADVOCATE THE MID CITY
1G
THURSDAY DECEMBER 3, 2015 H
GARDEN DISTRICT • SOUTHDOWNS • GOODWOOD • TARA • SPANISH TOWN • CAPITAL HEIGHTS LSU LAKES • MELROSE PLACE • BEAUREGARD TOWN THEADVOCATE.COM
Darlene Denstorff AROUND MID CITY
DDENSTORFF@ THEADVOCATE.COM
BREC holiday camps set Registration for BREC’s winter holiday camps ends Dec. 11. Camps will be held for ages 6 to 12 at Independence Community Park and ages 4 to 5 at Milton J. Womack Park from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Dec. 21-31, with half days on Dec. 24 and Dec. 31. There will be no camp on Dec. 25. Children ages 4 to 5 must be potty trained. Cost is $98 per child or $14 per day. Call (225) 272-9200 or visit brec.org/holidaycamps for details.
Festival of Lights
Baton Rouge’s oldest holiday tradition brightens up North Boulevard from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday with the annual Christmas lighting, a 35-foot Christmas tree in Town Square, Bethlehem Village where children can craft ornaments and decorations and a train ride on the Mansion Express at the Old Governor’s Mansion. The evening of visual, culinary and performing arts also features Santa’s Gift Shoppe and holiday music.
MUSICAL MOMENTS
BY C.J. FUTCH
structor at Baton Rouge Community College, learned of the program when, as part of a Bridget Sonnier-Hillis began series of events on campus to pulling iPods of nearly every recognize Alzheimer’s Awaregeneration out of a box on ness Month, the school hosted her desk, one of them still in a screening of the documentary its original packaging, never “Alive Inside: A story of Music and Memory,” about how peoopened. The donated iPods were part ple with Alzheimer’s and other of a nearly month-long drive to dementia-related illnesses recollect technology destined for spond to music that has been a landfill, and redirect them to meaningful to them. “I particularly remember Music & Memory, a nonprofit group that distributes the play- a clip of a man named Henry ers to nursing homes across the (in the film) who went from non-verbal to talking about his United States. Sonnier-Hillis, psychology in- memories when he heard a Cab cfutch@theadvocate.com
Donated iPods aidAlzheimer’s, dementia patients across US
Calloway song,” Sonnier-Hillis said. It moved many people, and as of Nov. 25, she had collected 37 iPods and $550 in iTunes gift cards. While it may seem small to the students who discard the technology, access to music, particularly when it is personalized, has made astounding differences in the quality of life to her nursing home patients, said Gloria McCall, director of Rosewood Nursing Center in Lake Charles.
Bridget Sonnier-Hillis, psychology instructor at Baton Rouge Community College, counts the iPods donated to the school’s Music and Memory drive. Student and teachers in the Social Sciences department at BRCC collected 37 iPods and $550 in iTunes gift cards, all of which will be donated to Music & Memory, a program that uses personalized playlists to improve quality of life in Alzheimer’s patients.
äSee iPODS, page 4G
Gather ’round the table
Advocate photo by C.J. FUTCH
Volunteer Tyrese Green, 9, tries on big disposable gloves before helping serve at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul dining hall. His grandmother, Carolyn Smith, is at right, as well as, from left, Christian Cassity and her boyfriend Jeremiah Green, Smith’s son. Advocate photo by C.J. FUTCH
Kaden Perrault, right, 12, Brusly Middle School student, and East Baton Rouge Parish Library staff member Elaine Boudreaux work on Perrault’s hex nut bracelet at the teen programs workshop on making jewelry from hardware on Nov. 24 at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library’s Main Branch.
Kidd Classic Christmas
Workshop puts youths’ bling fingers to the test
The USS Kidd Veterans Museum will kick off its Classic Christmas Celebration from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday in the Museum Theater. Enjoy favorite holiday films such as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Frosty the Snowman” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” daily through Jan. 2. Movie entrance is free with paid admission to the museum.
BY C.J. FUTCH
cfutch@theadvocate.com
Teen Christmas Party
The Main Library’s Teen Christmas Party featuring games, prizes and refreshments will be held from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in the library’s Teen Room.
Advocate staff photos by TRAVIS SPRADLING
Society of St. Vincent de Paul CEO and President Michael Acaldo addresses a room filled with about 150 volunteers just before the start of Thanksgiving dinner at the group’s dining hall.
Holidays with LASM
The Louisiana Art & Science Museum’s Special Holiday First Sunday will feature a free ornament workshop from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Santa Claus and the Coca-Cola Holiday Caravan from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and the holiday music show “Let it Snow” at 3 p.m. Planetarium shows, including “Let it Snow,” are available at a reduced admission price of $5 for adults and $5 for children and seniors.
Movie at the library
River Center Branch Library will show “A Christmas Story” to adults from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Monday in the fourth floor auditorium.
Zoo & Me Mornings
“Reindeer Games” is the theme of this month’s Zoo & Me Mornings at Baton Rouge Zoo, slated for 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. The program is designed äSee AROUND, page 5G
LEFT: First in line and tired after waiting for several hours, Baton Rouge’s Cynthia Addison, 76, center, is helped through the door by James Rowe, a Baton Rouge Police officer and followed by others including Kerry Smith, left, as they prepare for the lunch. RIGHT: Diocese of Baton Rouge Bishop Robert Muench surveys the room before giving the blessing.
Brusly Middle School student Kaden Perrault, 12, sat quietly at a table in the East Baton Rouge Library Main branch teen room Nov. 24, trying to line a series of hex nuts up perfectly in a braid of leather string. “You really need a third thumb, don’t you, to keep everything tight,” said Elaine Boudreaux, library staff member conducting the workshop on creating jewelry from hardware. Perrault and Boudreaux kept running into the same issue with the project: If the braid wasn’t held tight as the hex nuts were incorporated on alternating sides, the hardware didn’t line up, and the bracelet became a jumbled mess. After a couple of false starts, the two got into the rhythm of the project, and soon, Perrault had a shiny metal line that reäSee WORKSHOP, page 4G
DSAG to host two days of programs BY C.J. FUTCH
and friends, said Duane Lee with DSAG. “This is our third year to Coming off the success of present the workshop, and we their 15th annual Buddy Walk think it keeps getting better last month, the Down Syn- every year,” Lee said. Lee said he and Veronica drome Awareness Group of Baton Rouge’s membership is Crow, who chairs the workbusy again, planning a unique shop committee, try to choose workshop for people of all ages topics and speakers that its with Down syndrome, their membership wants, needs, families, teachers, therapists and may not otherwise get a cfutch@theadvocate.com
chance to hear. “We try to offer a wide variety of programs for different age groups with Down syndrome, for parents and caregivers, for educators and professionals,” Crow said. This year’s speakers are Brian Skotko and Sue Levine, co-authors of the book “Fasten Your Seatbelt: A Crash Course on Down Syndrome for Broth-
ers and Sisters,” Crow said. “They’re nationally known, so we’re really excited to get them here,” she said. The workshop, set for Jan. 22 and 23 at Pennington Biomedical Center, will also include a self-advocacy track for participants with Down syndrome including self-defense, art and dance, she said. Other tracks will be for sib-
lings of those with Down syndrome and parents. Skotko and Levine will speak to siblings ages 7 and up, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 22. The remainder of the workshop will resume at 8 a.m. Jan. 23. For more information on exhibiting, sponsoring or attending, contact veronica. crow@dsagbr.org or cheriseknapp@gmail.com.