Cleaning Sunflower Kids

I finally was able to schedule a second volunteering date for Sunflower Kids. This past Wednesday, I made the journey to Sunflower kids with Morgan Blair (who is in the other section of CIS volunteering at the same organization). He and I immediately began work when we got there—we wasted no time at all!

Sunflower Kids Decorated for Thanksgiving

            We worked together to clean the visitation rooms. We began by wiping down all of the surfaces—including tables and chairs. Then, we proceeded to diligently vacuum the floor all over. After this, we decided to be thorough. We dumped out all of the bins of toys and wiped them with disinfecting wipes, as well. We paid special attention to the “kitchen food” toys, because children tend to put their mouths on these toys especially. It was evident they needed cleaning from the looks of our wipes when we were finished! When we finished cleaning all of the toys, we sorted them back into their appropriate bins and organized the shelves.

            While we were working, I learned some interesting information about the process of visitation at Sunflower Kids. Morgan had volunteered on a Sunday, a day when visitations usually take place. The parents are brought into the visitation room, where the kids are. A volunteer of Sunflower Kids staff member sits outside of the visitation room, monitoring the interaction. When the visitation is over, the parent is only allowed to leave once the child is off the premise—taken out through the back door.

One of the rooms Morgan and I cleaned!

            Also, while we were working, I noticed all of the neat toys and activities that the children could partake in during visitation.

There was a TV in each room, some with movies and wii games, even! There was an extensive collection of toys, and one of the rooms even had a basketball goal. I could imagine the children playing and having fun in these rooms.

In fact, after visiting Sunflower Kids for a second time, I found myself hoping to be able to monitor or volunteer during a visitation session. I think it would be extremely interesting to see the process take place for myself!