During the holiday season, the “I Have A Dream” Foundation – Los Angeles (IHADLA) strives to spread holiday cheer among its students and their communities. We hold several holiday events during which our Dreamers celebrate and receive gifts, but during this time we also seek to show our Dreamers the power of giving back through several community service activities. One such activity, which has become a yearly tradition for IHADLA, is the Dreamer Volunteer Day. This year, our high school Dreamers continued the Volunteer Day tradition by spreading holiday joy during a community service trip to the Westchester Villa Assisted Living Home in Inglewood.

The Inglewood Dreamers Continued an IHADLA Holiday Tradition

The Inglewood Dreamers have been visiting the Westchester Villa Assisted Living Home for the past four years. Last year, they brought holiday cheer to the residents by singing holiday carols with them; this year, they helped the residents create holiday decorations to make the Villas look cheerful and festive. Using arts and crafts supplies and glue, the Dreamers and residents created various fun decorations, including red holiday stockings and ribbons. Of course, there was also plenty of time for the Dreamers and residents to converse and get to know each other over holiday cookies and refreshments.

In addition to helping the residents create decorations, the Dreamers also collaborated to decorate the Westchester Villa Christmas tree. All the visiting Dreamers helped place glass ornaments on the Villa’s tree. When the Dreamers finished, the tree was covered in sparkling silver, gold, and red ornaments and twinkling white lights for the Westchester Villa residents to enjoy.

Dreamer Kenneth Brown Performed Music for the Westchester Villa Residents

The evening’s activities included music performed by one of our Inglewood Dreamers. Kenneth Brown, a Dreamer who hopes to be a musician in the future, performed music with his trumpet for the residents and the other Dreamers as they created their decorations and decorated the tree. Kenneth’s music filled the halls of the Villas and brought even more holiday cheer to the event.

This Trip Was Great for Both the Dreamers and the Villa Residents

Both the Dreamers and the residents had a great time getting to know each other, working on their arts and crafts projects, and sharing the spirit of togetherness of the holiday season. We hope that next year’s Christmas trip will be just as fun for everyone involved!

More Photos from the Dreamers’ Community Service Trip to the Westchester Villa Assisted Living Home in Inglewood

How You Can Help

If you would like to help us continue to offer holistic education programs and activities for our Dreamers, please visit our How You Can Help page by clicking the graphic below or navigating to the How You Can Help tab on our website. You can get involved with IHADLA in many ways, such as by donating, volunteering, mentoring, or being a Dream Speaker for our students.