Girl Scouts bring service and therapeutic ranch animals to Encore Senior Village

Sixth graders, seniors and a full menagerie of animals – horses, goat, chicken, sheep, rabbits, donkey and dogs – congregated at Encore Senior Village in March for an hour of fun, learning and rediscovery.

Encore Senior Village understands the importance of meaningful activities, for students as well as seniors. Every day, Encore helps nurture the independence of their memory care resident’s with positive social interaction, familiar activities and sensory activities utilizing their nationally respected and innovative Rediscovery™ Program. The girl scouts in Girl Scout Troop #1505 joined the residents of Encore in a quest for a community service badge and a horse fan patch badge

The sixth graders in Girl Scout Troop #1505, along with the Therapeutic Ranch for Animals and Kids (TRAK), provided resident’s at Encore a way to rediscover memories of growing up on a ranch or around animals and to create new memories.

Residents at Encore handled rabbits and petted donkeys and horses. The sensory experience and the fun environment enabled the resident’s to have a rewarding afternoon interacting with the Girl Scouts, family members and the animals.

This community service event is of great benefit to the Girl Scout troop. These girls, age 11 to 12, interacted with seniors coping with many of the aging issues their own family members are facing or will face. It also increased compassion, understanding and awareness of individuals with memory impairments.