Maddy was a former music teacher. Lately, she had not been interested in participating in activities despite our efforts to involve her. On Sunday we had live music scheduled and she reluctantly agreed to go but once she heard it she perked right up. She kept yelling, “Spoons!! I need spoons!” While not exactly sure why she needed them, Molly ran into the kitchen and grabbed a handful of spoons for her. When Molly returned with them, Maddy proceeded to pass them out to others. For an entire hour she sang and waved her hands in the air or tapped her spoons on the table to the music, all with an enormous smile on her face. Afterwards, she said over and over how much she enjoyed her afternoon.

Alleyene tends to get very sad and cry a lot when she gets confused due to her advanced dementia. Since she used to play the piano when she was younger, Ernesta brought Alleyene downstairs to the foyer and pushed her wheelchair up to the piano to see what she would do. At first, Alleyene didn't show too much interest, but when Ernesta walked away for a moment Alleyene started to push the piano keys. She began to laugh and smile while she played around with the keys and kept saying, "Would you look at that!"

Mary Jo has dementia and struggles with her communication. She often asks for someone to take her to the restroom as a way of seeking companionship. So Ernesta decided to join Mary Jo in the dining room and read a book to her. Ernesta talked about the pictures she saw and the topics she read to her. Mary Jo began to relax and she started to communicate more freely as they moved through the book.

When Alan moved into Bickford of Bexley, he spoke about how amazing his singing voice was. He told us that God had gifted him with a singing voice and not everybody was blessed in that way. With each performance that BFM Kristen and other performers did in the Branch, Alan would stand and bellow the songs right alongside them. One day, Alan shared how he used to be the Cantor at his temple. He said that he missed singing in front of people and wished he had centerstage again. So Kristen and Sophia decided to put together a concert for the Branch. Sophia played her cello, Kristen played her guitar and Alan contributed with his beautiful singing voice!