*James Jenkins bringing joy to members of the senior residence*

On Saturday, February 13, 2016, the Northern Virginia Chapter of WFWP presented entertainment for around twenty-five senior citizens in a low-income senior residence in Woodbridge, Virginia. The event was organized by Mrs. Carmella Ciemny, NOVA WFWP Community Service Coordinator, and showcased the talents of young adults, their parents, and other members of the surrounding community including two Mormon missionaries. The goal of the event was to bring joy to the seniors. Because the residents had enjoyed the Talent Show the WFWP chapter had hosted in May of 2015, they had asked if the chapter could come again; so this is the second talent show NOVA WFWP has held at the residence.

The event began with the Lake Ridge Fellowship House providing a chili lunch for the residents. In addition, the WFWP members brought additional chili, side dishes, snacks, and desserts to add a little extra flavor to the afternoon. The room had been tastefully decorated with balloons, flowers, and candy with a Valentine’s Day theme. Carmella Ciemny began the talent show by wishing everyone a “Happy Valentine’s Day”. Her daughter Phoebe, a Creative Writing major at George Mason University was introduced and took over as the emcee for the event. Lively performances included singing, dancing, piano playing, guitar playing, harmonica playing, storytelling, and poetry reading. During the show and in between the acts, there was an ongoing raffle and small Valentine’s gifts were raffled off.

After the talent show, as the performers, supporters and organizers began to leave, many seniors stopped them and thanked them individually for their performances and for the visit to their residence. Mrs. Misako Connery gave each person a farewell gift bag and gave the young adult performers a $20 pizza coupon for their participation. One of the moving aspects of the event was the support given by the families (parents with young adult children) working together to make a truly memorable event for people they didn’t even know and who were in need of receiving a loving experience.

Although the goal to bring joy to elders was achieved, actually a much bigger goal of promoting world peace was also accomplished through those families working together as a small community to bring joy to an even larger community. WFWP has taught that world peace begins with the individual, expanding to families, and then reaching into the community. The community makes up the nation and the nation affects the world. Bringing hope and joy to elders in the community is a wonderful way to expand the peace-building process that WFWP espouses.