Cove royalty brighten summer for elderly
Special to the Leader-Press
B-12; 0-70; N-33. It is more than a numbers game at Copperas Cove Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center. It is about reminding the elderly that someone cares for them.
Miniature Miss Five Hills Naomi Williams may be petite in stature but she is big in heart and has gathered the support of her royal family to spend the summer showing their love to the residents of a local nursing home through weekly games of bingo and personal conversations.
The royalty spent their first Friday out from school visiting with the residents in their rooms and encouraged them to come to the dining hall for a few games of bingo. As the games got underway, more and more residents joined in until more than a dozen were marking their bingo cards with help from the titleholders.
“Having the Five Hills Royalty hosting bingo is a blessing for the residents,” said Trae Cunningham, the nursing home’s director of admissions. “They love having visitors spend time with them. It is one of the highlights of their week.”
Williams, 4, cares for the elderly on a regular basis visiting a Killeen nursing home each Sunday after church. She and her sister royalty hosted a Mother’s Day tea at a nursing home in Copperas Cove last month.
“I wanted to play bingo to make the people feel special because I love them,” Williams said.
The royalty plan to visit Copperas Cove Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center weekly to host bingo through the months of June, July and into August until the start of school.
The titleholders were also busy last week collecting more than 2,000 pounds of lost and found items for CCISD schools which they washed, dried, and folded in partnership with Wells Laundromat. The items were then made available to Communities in Schools to restock their clothing closets for students in-need for the coming school year.
The royalty participated in the Stomp Out Homelessness Walk in Killeen on Saturday. CCISD has more than 250 homeless students and the titleholders were honored to participate in this event.
In royalty sightings this week, the titleholders will be signing youngsters up at local daycare centers for an area talent show spearheaded by Senior Ms. Five Hills Yolanda Brown as part of her platform of service. The royalty will also participate in the Killeen Juneteenth Pageant and Juneteenth Parade, help with the local animal shelter’s animal adoption event, the Copperas Cove Library’s summer reading kick-off, host bingo again this week at the nursing home and participate in the Holland Corn Festival Parade and activities.